Man remains in Mo. prison despite pardon

Columbia Daily Tribune

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Deep inside the protective custody unit of the state's maximum security prison, Michael Wayne Ford Sr. prays for his release.

Other inmates yearn for freedom, but Ford's case is unique. He remains behind bars despite the fact that a judge recently ruled in his favor, despite a governor's commutation of his sentence, and despite the fact that another man convicted in the same murder case was set free 15 years ago.

Ford's case file reads like a Merle Haggard ballad, laced with injustice and irony.

"He's been gone 31 years," said Sammie Ford, 76, the inmate's mother. "He's been workin' and workin' and workin' tryin' to help himself out of there."

Others have tried to help: two former governors, state lawmakers and even prison officials from other states have written letters in Ford's support.

In 1994, Paul Delo, superintendent of the Potosi Correctional Center, wrote the Department of Corrections director to suggest that then-Gov. John Ashcroft be approached for a commutation of Ford's sentence.

"As you know, I have been in the system for a long time, and we both know that despite our best intentions and actions, sometimes an individual may be treated less than fairly by the system," Delo wrote. "I believe I can convince you that Mr. Ford is worthy of our assistance and the governor's consideration."

A decade passed before anything happened.

Ford was among five convicted murderers who received clemency from Gov. Bob Holden shortly before he left office in January 2005. Their sentences were commuted from life without parole for 50 years, to life. That meant the five could seek a parole from the state Board of Probation and Parole.

Since Holden's decision, four of the five have been freed. The board has turned down Ford's requests twice. Most recently, it concluded Ford should not be released because of the seriousness of his offense and because of three minor conduct violations within the institution.

In August, Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan ruled the board could no longer deny Ford a parole based on the circumstances of his crime. Callahan, a former prosecutor, believes the criminal justice system broke down in Ford's situation because of a lack of consistency.

"At least in individual cases, we ought to achieve better consistency than we did in this case," Callahan said in an interview. "The fact that one defendant exercised his right to a jury trial doesn't justify what happened in this case."

In 1977, when Ford was 20, he joined an acquaintance, Melvin Huffman, in a day of drinking beer and shooting pool at several St. Louis bars. After heavy drinking, they picked up a hitchhiker, Larry Sansoucie.

The trio met up with Huffman's former girlfriend, and a series of arguments broke out. They ended near a Mississippi River bluff, where Sansoucie was stabbed to death. Ford denied stabbing Sansoucie. According to documents filed on Ford's behalf, Huffman admitted he stabbed Sansoucie several times.

During Ford's trial, the judge suggested he plead guilty to second-degree murder and accept a 30-year sentence. Ford rejected the idea because he didn't believe he was guilty because he didn't stab the victim. Ford's new lawyer, James Erwin, said Ford's trial lawyer had failed to explain that Ford was just as liable for the murder as Huffman.

"Mr. Ford was convicted of capital murder on the basis of jury instructions that allowed the jury to find him guilty of the crime whether he was the one who actually stabbed the victim or not," Erwin said. "His conviction of capital murder carried with it a mandatory sentence of life without possibility of parole for 50 years, even though his actual culpability was as an accessory to the crime."

Tried separately, Huffman was convicted of second-degree murder and received a 40-year sentence. Huffman was paroled in 1993 after serving 15 years.

In a clemency request, former Gov. Joe Teasdale, representing Ford, wrote of "many injustices" in Ford's case. "I do believe that Mr. Ford is guilty of second-degree murder on the theory of accessory liability, but I do not believe that Mr. Ford should have received a sentence of 50 years without parole," Teasdale wrote.

When Ford was first imprisoned in the Missouri State Penitentiary, he got into an altercation with a guard. Ford received an additional conviction of "offering violence to a corrections employee" and a three-year sentence to go with it.

In an interview Ford said he was not a troublemaker now but that he had been when he first came to prison. He said his life turned around when he testified in the wake of an escape attempt at the Missouri State Penitentiary.

Ford has often put his life on the line to help authorities solve crimes that have taken place behind prison walls. His testimony against other inmates and prison guards in Missouri and three other states has placed him in danger from those who might seek retribution. That's why he's now in protective custody.

In 1981, two inmates armed with revolvers and ammunition took three guards hostage in an escape attempt. In the investigation that followed, authorities learned how guards had smuggled guns, a cutting torch and narcotics into the prison. Ford provided information that helped prosecute those involved.

"Michael Ford's cooperation with the prison authorities was a substantial contribution to the overall peace and security both for the guards and inmates at the Missouri State Penitentiary," wrote Callahan, who was then an assistant prosecutor.

------

Information from: Columbia Daily Tribune, http://www.columbiatribune.com