'Justice Talks' program scheduled

Two men who were wrongfully convicted of capital murder and exonerated will speak in Cape Girardeau on April 19 through "Justice Talks," an educational project sponsored by a grant from Amnesty International.

The Cape Girardeau Chapter of a campaign for a moratorium on executions in Missouri organized the event.

Joe Amrine and Kevin Green will share their experiences at noon in Dempster Hall on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. They will speak again at 7 p.m. at the Osage Community Centre, 1625 N. Kingshighway.

Amrine was convicted in 1986 for the murder of a fellow prisoner, Gary Barber. Amrine was serving time for burglary and robbery at the time of Barber's death. The Missouri Supreme Court issued a ruling granting Amrine a new trial if the state chose to refile charges, but officials chose not to. Purported eyewitnesses to Barber's death who implicated Amrine later recanted.

The state's assistant Attorney General declared the court need not stop Amrine's execution as long as he had had a fair trial. The court rejected that theory and Amrine was freed July 28, 2003. He now works as an assistant for a Kansas City law firm.

Kevin Green of Jefferson City spent 16 years in prison and was freed after DNA evidence and the actual murderer's confession affirmed his innocence. He had been accused of attacking his pregnant wife Sept. 30,1979 and killing their unborn child. Green was released in 1998 and now works for a utility company.

The program is free to the public.

For more information contact Fr. J. Leslie or Bob Polack at the university at 335-3899.