Juvenile Death Penalty Ronald Chris Foster

"Lawyer again asks U.S. high court to block Mississippi execution"
Associated Press, January 3, 2003

Another appeal on behalf of Ron Chris Foster was made public the same day members of the clergy, legislators and a former state Supreme Court justice asked Gov. Ronnie Musgrove to grant clemency to the condemned inmate.

The Mississippi Coalition for Clemency cited Foster's age at the time of the murder, his mental condition and a lack of prior criminal history as reasons the governor should grant clemency, or at least, commute his sentence to life in prison.

Foster was 17 when he killed a store clerk.

Former Justice Fred Banks Jr. joined about 30 death penalty opponents Thursday in a news conference at the state Capitol.

"I was among the three justices who thought his sentence should have been reduced to life imprisonment when it first came through the courts," Banks said.

Bishop William Houck of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson said he had asked Musgrove for clemency.

"As a Christian and as an American, I grieve over the fact that our great country is the only Western industrialized nation that resorts to killing offenders as a means to punishment.

"It further grieves me that we in Mississippi are one of only 22 of our 50 states that allow the execution of a juvenile under the age of 18," Houck said.

Musgrove has denied clemency in 2 previous executions.

Meantime, Foster has filed appeals in courts, seeking to block Wednesday's scheduled execution.

In the petition made public Thursday, Foster's attorney, Silas McCharen of Jackson, told the U.S. Supreme Court that new petitions filed on the issue of juvenile defendants warranted a stay of execution.

In December, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Foster who was 17 when he used his bike as a getaway vehicle in a fatal convenience store robbery in Lowndes County in 1989.

McCharen said since that appeal was filed, 4 justices said this fall that the court should ban the executions.

McCharen also said a death row inmate in Oklahoma has challenged the execution of offenders who were juveniles at the time a crime was committed.

In a motion filed in the Mississippi Supreme Court, McCharen argued the U.S. Constitution prohibits the application of the death penalty to mentally retarded persons, as the nation's high court had ruled last year in a Virginia case. McCharen has said that Foster had the mental maturity of a 13-year-old.

McCharen also argued in the state motion that the execution of a juvenile also violates the U.S. Constitution.

The Mississippi Supreme Court did not rule on the motion Monday. Justices gave the state until 5 p.m. Friday to respond to the motion.

None of the issues raised, McCharen said in the Dec. 27 dated petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, would be expected to be settled before Foster's scheduled execution.

"A great miscarriage of justice will occur if Foster is executed Jan. 8 before there is a final decision from this court on the legality of his death sentence," McCharen said in the petition.

Assistant Attorney General Marvin White, who handles death penalty cases for the state, said he has no plans to respond to Foster's latest appeal.

"It's a non-issue until the Supreme Court changes it, if and when they do," White said.

White said he didn't think pressure by outside groups would make a difference in the execution.

"They made their views known to the U.S. Supreme Court," he said. "That did not keep the court from denying the appeal."

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