19 December 2017 :
Reginald Clemons, 46, Black, pleaded guilty in exchange for multiple sentences of life in prison. St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison immediately sentenced Clemons to five consecutive life prison sentences. In Missouri, life means 30 years. The prison terms are also consecutive to a 15-year sentence Clemons received after being convicted of attacking a prison employee. Clemons was sentenced to death on April 9, 1993 for the 1991 rape and killings of two sisters before his conviction was overturned on November 24, 2015 (see). Clemons admitted to the crimes Monday after decades of denial and was resentenced. Clemons pleaded guilty to five counts in all: two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of rape and one count of first-degree robbery. Clemons and three accomplices were convicted for the April 4, 1991 rape and killing of Julie and Robin Kerry — two sisters who were 20 and 19 years old, respectively. Clemons had served 22 years on death row, with supporters rallying to his cause, saying his initial trial had not been fair. His sentence was overturned in 2015 on the grounds that police beat him into confessing and hid some evidence. Prosecutors decided to retry the case. Clemons admitted that he and three others met Julie and Robin Kerry, and their cousin, Thomas Cummins. They robbed Cummins of cash and a watch, then raped the Kerry sisters, forced all three through a manhole and onto the substructure of the bridge and pushed the Kerrys off, he said. They forced Cummins to jump from the bridge at gunpoint, but Cummins survived. In the past, Clemons has acknowledged being on the bridge the night of the killings but claimed police beat a confession out of him and was railroaded by an overzealous prosecutor. Clemons' co-defendant, Marlin Gray, was executed for the crime in 2005. The other co-defendant, Antonio Richardson was sentenced to death. Richardson's penalty was later changed to life without parole. The fourth co-defendant, Daniel Winfrey, testified in exchange for a 30-year term and has been paroled.
