EXECUTION   ALERT   !
  Roy Ramsey
                                Execution date scheduled for April 13, 1999
Executed April 13th 1999  

 
State of Missouri Plans to Kill Roy Ramsey April 13

State of Missouri Executed Roy Ramsey April 13, 1999

Roy Ramsey and his younger brother Billy on November 21, 1988, robbed an elderly couple, Garnett and Betty Ledford in their suburban Kansas City home. One of them committed a further reprehensible action, fatally shooting both elders.  While there's some confusion which brother was actually the triggerman, it is clear the state of Missouri intends to kill Roy late the evening of April 13, officially a few minutes after midnight April 14. We with the FOR condemn the initial crimes, offer condolences to relatives and friends of the couple-- yet we also condemn the murder planned by the state. Issues to Consider:  Arbitrary Punishment.  While Roy received the death sentence, Billy Ramsey got a 25-year prison sentence in exchange for testifying against his brother. He will be eligible for release on parole sometime next year.  Possible Innocence of Murder. Roy and some of his relatives contend it was Billy, not he who was the gunman.  In recent weeks, Billy confessed as much to another brother, Paul Ramsey, who says their brother plans to talk as soon as possible with Roy's attorney to admit his role as the shooter. However, on a couple occasions in past years, Billy has raised this possibility only to soon after recant the confession.Only the two men really know who shot the couple.

An Impoverished, Neglected and Institutionalized Background...

Roy Ramsey, Jr. was one of ten brothers, born in southeastern Missouri in New Madrid, where his family worked cotton fields as sharecroppers. During the trial, his brother Earl testified that the family subsisted there in abject poverty, in a home with no indoor plumbing.

When the family moved to Kansas City, life became even more tenuous. The two of them, he stated, would steal food to help feed the family. Eventually, they began to steal other things like bicycles.
For some time the family also lived out of their car, according to Marilyn Keller, a member of Roy's current legal team.

        At the age of 10, Roy was committed to a Jackson County residential facility for truancy. He ran away from there twice and was later sent to the Boonville facility then operated for youthful offenders. Just three days before he was scheduled to be released, Paul Ramsey says Roy assaulted a worker with a chair. Thus at the age of 13, he says his brother was sent to the Missouri State Penitentiary, beginning his dead end journey of institutionalization. From then to his incarceration on the current charge in 1988, Roy Ramsey has been out of prison for only about 27 months, according to Keller.
 

             Most Importantly a Human Being.

And writes Fr. Paul Jones (who's corresponded with him for several months), one capable of change with nurturing. In spite of his difficult upbringing, Roy "has learned the word 'love,' and uses it in every letter. If the execution is performed as scheduled, I will miss those notes-- from one who is beginning to experience feelings other than violent ones."

                               Roy Ramsey (Right) with his father (left).
 
 

   Suggested Actions :
 

Please contact Governor Mel Carnahan 

phone 573-751-3222                      or fax 573-751-1495 

. . . and urge him to stay the execution-- at least to examine his claims of innocence. Ask him to follow the lead of officials in neighboring Illinois, like the state's former Attorney General, Richard Daley, now Chicago Mayor. He's endorsed a moratorium on executions to allow an extensive review of death-penalty convictions sentence.

If the governor doesn't intercede, please join us for protest vigils Tuesday, April13:
5:00- 6:00 p.m., Boone County Courthouse, Walnut St., Columbia and
                11:00 p.m.- Midnight, Governor's Mansion, Jefferson City
                             (car-pooling from courthouse, 10:00 p.m.)
                 7:00.p.m.- Car-pool from Courthouse in Columbia for Potosi vigil.

    For more information on his case or protests
            call Jeff   573-449-4585
              or Rita   573-635-7239

        Please Help ! ! !
 

           The CCADP offers free webpages to Death Row Inmates in the U.S.A.
                                           Contact us for more information.

 
This page was last updated  April 18,  1999           Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty
 info@ccadp.org              This page is maintained and updated by Dave Parkinson and Tracy Lamourie