Attorneys for a man convicted in the 1991 slayings of two sisters who were forced off an abandoned St. Louis bridge into the Mississippi River said Monday that they were relieved his execution has been put on hold, but they noted that their work is not done yet.
Reginald Clemons, 37, was sentenced to death for the April 1991 murders of 20-year-old Julie Kerry and 19-year-old Robin Kerry. His execution had been scheduled for June 17, until the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday agreed to a delay in a one-sentence, unsigned order.
It's not certain how long Clemons' execution will be on hold.
The attorneys said they will continue to pursue all potential avenues to get his death sentence overturned.
They also said they hope Friday's ruling is an indication that the appeals court will agree with them on a broader issue: that they should be given a chance to evaluate whether Missouri is hiring untrained, unqualified people to carry out lethal injection.
Clemons was one of four men convicted of killing the Kerry sisters on April 4, 1991. Prosecutors said the women were raped, then pushed to their deaths off the old Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis.
