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Capital Punishment in Missouri from Missouri.Net

On the evening of March 2, 1985, around 5:30 p.m., Jerome Mallett was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 55 in Perry County by Trooper James Froemsdorf. Before the trooper approached the vehicle, Mallet hid his wallet and identification under the front seat of the ear. When the Trooper asked for his driver’s license, Mallett replied that he did not have it with him. When Trooper Froemsdorf asked him his name, Mallett used his brother Anthony Mallett’s name to escape detection. The Trooper then handcuffed Mallett and searched the car. He found several items bearing the name of Jerome Mallett, including the driver’s license Mallett had hidden previously.

The Trooper returned to his car and called the Highway Patrol radio dispatcher to run a check on the driver’s license. The dispatcher informed Trooper Froemsdorf that Mallett was wanted in Texas on four warrants for probation violation and one warrant for aggravated robbery. At 5:40 p.m., Trooper Froemsdorf, in his last radio transmission, told the dispatcher that Mallett was in custody, that he needed no assistance, and that the dispatcher could contact him next at the Perry County Sheriffs Office.

At approximately 6:00 p.m., a passing motorist, curious at seeing an apparently unoccupied patrol car with its red lights flashing, stopped to investigate and found Trooper Froemsdorf’s body. The inside of the Trooper’s car was a shambles with evidence of a struggle. Found in the patrol car was Mallett’s driver’s license and the other items the Trooper had taken in the search of Mallett’s car. Missing from the Trooper’s car was his .357 magnum service revolver. On the hood of the car investigators found Mallett’s hand print.

Around 7:00 p.m. that evening a St. Francois County deputy sheriff sighted Mallett’s truck and began a pursuit. The chase ended with Mallett missing a turn, running up an embankment and crashing through a fence into a field. Mallett then fled on foot. On the floorboard of Mallett’s car the deputy found Trooper Froemsdorf’s service revolver.

Mallett then swam across a river and spent the first night in a car in a nearby garage. Realizing that authorities were looking for him, Mallet spent the next day hiding in various locations, but when he went to a fast food restaurant he was apprehended after a brief pursuit. Mallett still had Trooper Froemsdorf's handcuffs secured to his right wrist. It was later discovered that Mallett had suffered an injury as a child which allowed him to compress his hand to nearly the size of his wrist and slip out of the handcuffs.

Mallctt was transported to a highway patrol station where he waved his Miranda rights and gave a videotaped confession. He admitted to shooting the Trooper, but claimed it was an accident. In the investigation of the killing of Trooper Froemsdorf an autopsy was performed which disputed the claim of an accidental shooting.

Legal Chronology

1985
03/02 - Jerome Mallet shot and killed Missouri State Highway Patrol Officer James Froemsdorf on Interstate 55 in Perry County, Missouri.
05/13 - Mallett is charged by information with Murder First Degree.

1986
01/13 - Mallett's trial begins on a change of venue from Perry County to Schuyler County.
01/22 - Mallett is found guilty of Murder First Degree.
01/23 - The jury recommends the death sentence for Mallett.
03/07 - Mallet is sentenced to death by the court.
03/17 - Mallett files a motion for appeal.

1987
06/16 - The Missouri Supreme Court affirms the conviction and sentence.
11/25 - Mallett files a motion for post-conviction relief in the Schulyer County Circuit Court.

1988
06/06 - The Circuti Court grants in part and denies in part the montion for post-conviction relief.

1989
04/18 - The Missouri Supreme Court affirms in part and reverses in part the post-conviction judgment. The conviction and sentence are upheld.

1990
02/26 - The United States Supreme Court denies certiorari review.
03/09 - Mallett files a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

1996
07/29 - The District Court denies the petition for writ of habeas corpus in an unpublished order.

1998
11/16 - The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirms the denial of relief.

1999
10/04 - The U.S. Supreme Court declines discretionary review.
10/04 - The State requests the Missouri Supreme Court to set an execution date.

2001
06/05 - The Missouri Supreme Court sets July 11, 2001 as Jerome Mallett's execution date.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Jerome Mallett Execution Date and Time: 7/11/01, 1:01am EST.

On March 2, 1985 Jerome Mallett was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 55 in Perry County, MO by a state trooper. Mallett had violated probation four times, and, after robbing a jewelry store in Texas, was also wanted on a warrant for aggravated robbery. When the state trooper checked with his dispatcher, he resolved Mallett’s identification and took him into custody. Before leaving the area, Mallett, who is black, escaped handcuffs and struggled with the trooper inside the patrol car, which resulted in Mallett shooting and killing him. He was later captured in St. Francois County, after an extensive search that lasted days.

On April 15th of the same year, a Missouri State Highway Patrol stopped the vehicle of David C. Tate at a traffic check on Highway 86 in Taney County, Missouri. As the two troopers performing the check for licenses and registrations approached, Tate opened fire on them both, killing one officer and severely wounding the other. During the initial investigation of the crime scene, highway patrolmen ascertained that Tate was part of a white supremacist group and known to carry several high powered weapons. Much the same as Mallett, he had a prior history of violence, and, as an examination of evidence ensued, investigators discovered Tate’s volatile appetite for stockpiling guns and explosives. David Tate was later convicted of murder and assault in the first degree (with an intent to kill) and was sentenced to life imprisonment, in addition to receiving sentencing on counts of federal weapons violations. Jerome Mallet, however, received a very different fate than David Tate at the hands of a judge and jury in Schuyler County, MO: death.

The disparity between Mallet’s and Tate’s respective fates highlighted the target point of contention in Mallet’s case: racial bias. Mallet and his attorneys contend that significant factors inherent to the process of law in Missouri severely hindered Mallet’s ability to have a fair trial and, even more so, a fair sentencing. As reiterated in court documents, Mallet requested a retrial on the grounds of an “appearance of [a] hostile trial atmosphere”, a “disproportionate nature of punishment” and a “violation of equal protection and due process.” When the case was first brought to trial, it received a great deal of media publicity and thus, afraid that the racial overtones of the case would jeopardize its integrity, Mr. Mallett requested a change of venue from Perry County, MO. More importantly, Mallett’s request was made in the hope that a county chosen would include members of his race, for the sake of fair jury selection. Quite contrary to that request, the judge arbitrarily selected Schuyler County, on the Missouri-Iowa border, which contained no black residents. Hence, it was foretold that Jerome Mallett would be pleading his case to an all-white jury, and, further complicating matters, the trial judge from Schuyler had already demonstrated a biased investment in the case prior to trial; he had sent a plaque to the highway patrol in honor of the slain trooper

During the proceedings of appeal, Mallett’s counsel sought to reinforce the notions of “disproportionality of punishment” and racial discrimination in application of the death penalty. They cited numerous statistics that demonstrated a developing consistency between the racial profile of the accused and the decision for lethal sentencing within the state of Missouri, going so far as to say that killers of whites are more likely to be sentenced to death than killers of non-whites. The court refused to acknowledge that such discrimination was intended and disregarded their claims.

Yet the appeal decision hardly convinced Mallett and his attorneys that their assertions were ungrounded or a racially-tuned oversimplification. In a 4-3 Missouri Supreme Court decision, the three dissenting judges agreed that, in light of the Tate case, the sentencing should be reduced accordingly to life imprisonment. Judge Blackmar’s opinion stated that “the comparison to the Tate case [was] patent” and reasoned that “Tate’s having shot and seriously wounded a second trooper with intent to kill” qualified similarly with the court’s attempt to establish that Mallett’s killing had been particularly premeditated.

Evidence of unfair litigation against Jerome Mallett permeated the entirety of his judicial process. After sentencing, he was denied the motion of Circuit Judge Ronald Belt, who did in fact call for re-trial on the basis of prejudicial treatment in jury selection; the motion was overturned by the Missouri Supreme Court.

The latest developments in Jerome’s Mallet’s execution schedule come at time when the Justice Department has released a report on the Federal Death Penalty System that argues that racial bias does not affect the sentencing (via a disproportionality) of federal death row inmates. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) submitted a response to the report that targeted major methodological flaws in the study and questioned the reliability of in-house research. It recommended a review “conducted by an outside entity” and further challenged Congress to act on Senate Bill 233 and House Bill 1038, which would suspend federal executions and establish a commission to review the “fairness...of the death penalty at both the federal and state levels.” Jerome Mallett’s case would certainly qualify for study, but until any moratorium action can be taken, he will remain on death row.

ProDeathPenalty.Com

Jerome Mallett was sentenced to die for the March 2, 1985 shooting death of Missouri Highway Patrol officer James F. Froemsdorf, a father of three.

On March 2, 1985, Trooper Froemsdorf stopped a speeding Ford on northbound Interstate 55 in Perry County, about 60 miles south of St. Louis. The driver was Jerome Mallett, a felon who lived in Dallas and who was wanted on a robbery and probation violation. Froemsdorf handcuffed Mallett and put him in the front seat of his patrol car. While the trooper was writing a ticket, Mallett, who had a deformed right wrist, slipped one hand out of the handcuffs and fought Froemsdorf for his .357-Magnum revolver. Froemsdorf was shot once into his bulletproof vest and twice in his neck. His pistol was found several hours later in Mallett's abandoned car. Hundreds of officers came into the community for the funeral and helped to conduct a house to house seach. Mallett was hiding in a vacant house and when he was arrested three days after the murder in Desloge, the handcuffs still dangled from his left hand.

New Hampshire Coalition Against the Death Penalty

Missouri Executes Killer of State Patrolman

POTOSI, Mo. (Reuters) - Jerome Mallet, who killed a Missouri state trooper during a traffic stop in 1985, was executed early Wednesday. Death penalty opponents raised questions of racial bias.

Mallett, 42, was pronounced dead at 12:06 a.m. Wednesday after receiving a lethal injection of drugs at the Potosi Correctional Center, said prison spokesman Tim Kniest. Mallett, who claimed he shot Missouri State Highway Patrolman James Froemsdorf in self-defense after wrestling away the lawman's gun, said in a final statement: ``My heart and best wishes to the Froemsdorf family. I hope everybody can just move on now and this can be a learning experience for everybody. I love my family and friends.''

The murder that put Mallett in the death chamber occurred in March 1985 when Froemsdorf, a father of three young daughters, pulled over Mallett for speeding along a roadway about 60 miles south of St. Louis. Mallett had several outstanding warrants, including one for a Texas aggravated robbery offense, so he lied to the trooper about his identity after hiding his wallet and identification under the front seat of the car he was driving.

The ruse did not work, however, and Froemsdorf handcuffed Mallett and attempted to take him into custody upon finding the identification and learning about the outstanding warrants. Mallett was able to free one of his hands from the handcuffs and grabbed the trooper's gun, which he then used to shoot Froemsdorf three times, authorities said.
Mallett was later apprehended with the handcuffs still dangling from his right hand. The trooper's revolver was found in his car, according to law enforcement.

A series of last-minute appeals all failed, including a protest from the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) of Kansas and Western Missouri. The ACLU sought to intervene, asking Missouri Gov. Bob Holden in a letter last week to grant Mallett clemency because, the ACLU said, Mallett's death sentence was ``tainted by racism.'' The ACLU said that a similar case involving the murder of a state trooper resulted in a life sentence for a white man convicted of the crime.
About 75 demonstrators protested outside the prison against the execution as it took place early Wednesday, said Kniest.

Mallett was the fifth inmate executed this year in Missouri and the 51st since 1989, when the state reinstated the death penalty.

New Hampshire Coalition Against the Death Penalty

"Missouri Man Executed by Injection," by David Scott. (Associated Press)

POTOSI, Mo. (AP) - A 42-year-old Missouri man was executed by injection early Wednesday for killing a state trooper during a traffic stop in 1985. Jerome Mallett was the fifth inmate put to death this year in Missouri and the 51st since 1989, when the state reinstated the death penalty.

Mallett had claimed he shot James Froemsdorf, a nine-year veteran of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, in self-defense after the patrolman allegedly hit him and pulled a gun on him on an Interstate 55 roadside in Perry County. But in a videotaped statement made after his arrest, Mallett said he shot Froemsdorf, 35, during a struggle for the gun.

Mallett said mistakes by his attorney, Kenny Hulshof, caused him to receive the death penalty. Hulshof, who went on to become a prosecutor and is now a Republican congressman, did not return calls for comment. In his original appeals, Mallett's attorneys argued their client, a black man, didn't receive a fair trial because it was moved to Schuyler County, which has few black residents, and thus led to an all-white jury. Mallett was black.

The appeal also claimed Circuit Judge E. Richard Webber was biased because he sent a plaque in honor of the victim to the highway patrol and a letter of condolence to the patrolman's widow. Based on those issues, a circuit judge vacated Mallett's murder conviction and sentence. The state Supreme Court later reinstated both and the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) denied an appeal of that decision, although three justices dissented.