Sen. Nice, Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and other advocates call for clemency for death row inmate Kendrick Simpson

OKLAHOMA CITY – State Sen. Nikki Nice, D-Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (OK-CADP), and other advocates will hold a press conference on Tuesday, January 6 at 10:30 a.m. in room G-5 of the state Capitol to ask the Pardon and Parole Board to extend mercy to death row inmate Kendrick Simpson, who is scheduled for execution on February 12.

“Crucial evidence about Mr. Simpson’s history and mental health was not allowed to be fully presented to the jury during his 2007 trial. Jurors did not have all the facts,” Nice said. “The Pardon and Parole Board will hold a clemency hearing on January 14. We are asking for them to look at the whole picture, and to be merciful.”

Simpson, a New Orleans native, barely survived a violent shooting in 2004 after refusing to harm another person, then lost his home the next year in Hurricane Katrina, and was stranded on a bridge during the flooding with no food or water. He then sought shelter in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, where some 25,000 men, women, and children were stranded without basic services.

The trauma of the shooting and the nightmare he endured just a year later in Hurricane Katrina took a tremendous psychological toll, leaving him with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In 2006, in a paranoid state, thinking he and his co-defendants were in danger, Simpson opened fire on a car killing two men. But during his trial, the court wouldn’t allow evidence to be presented to the jury about his PTSD, claiming it was not related to guilt or intent.

“Kendrick acknowledges his actions and is deeply remorseful. Those of us who are advocating on his behalf believe that had all of the information been presented, he may well have received a sentence that spared his life,” Nice said. “Cases like this and so many others are why I fully support a moratorium on the death penalty as called for under Senate Bill 601.”

Speakers at the press conference will include Nice; Emma Rolls, OKW Capital Habeas Unit Chief and attorney for Mr. Simpson; Dr. Elizabeth Overman, Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (OK-CADP) chair; Sen. Mary Boren, D-Norman; Bernard Allen-Bey, President NAACP Oklahoma State Conference; and Randy Bauman, ACLU-OK counsel and OK-CADP executive board member.

The press conference is open to credentialed members of the Capitol press corps. The press conference will also be streamed on the Oklahoma Senate’s official Facebook page. For more information, contact: Sen. Nikki Nice at 405-521-5531 or Nikki.Nice@oksenate.gov.

– END –