Michael Anthony Taylor Clemency Petition

We the undersigned ask Missouri Governor Matt Blunt to commute Michael Anthony Taylor's sentence of death to life without parole. Michael is very remorseful and our desire for commutation is in no way meant to minimize the seriousness of this crime or the trauma felt by Ann Harrison's family and friends. The prosecutors office in Kansas City had a policy of seeking life without parole when a defendant pled guilty but in Michaels and his co-defendants case (and one other African American) this policy was ignored. Eighty percent of the men executed in Missouri this past year and those men most likely to receive execution dates this year are African Americans. Because of this racially discriminatory practice of applying the death penalty in Michael Taylors case, we believe that the state should not proceed with the scheduled execution.