Death Penalty Information Center

Journalism Students Help Missouri Death Row Inmate Get New Trial

    A federal judge ordered a new trial for Missouri death row inmate Richard D. Clay after a journalism class at Webster University helped discover that prosecutors had allowed a key witness to mislead jurors.

    Clay was convicted for the 1995 murder of Randy Martindale.  A co-defendant testified against Clay and told the jury that he was going to be sentenced to 10 years as part of a plea agreement.  Later, during an interview with the journalism students, the co-defendant explained that he knew his plea deal called for a maximum sentence of just five years behind bars (he eventually received a suspended sentence) and that prosecutors urged him to mischaracterize his punishment to make his testimony appear more credible.  (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8/9,13/01 and  Associated Press, 8/10/01)