Hearing Starts Monday in MO Death Row Case

The effort to free Reginald Clemons from Missouri's death row goes to a St. Louis courtroom starting Monday.

Clemons was one of four men convicted in the 1991 killings of two St. Louis-area sisters, 20-year-old Julie Kerry and 19-year-old Robin Kerry. Both girls, along with their visiting male cousin, were thrown from an abandoned Mississippi River bridge.

The cousin, Thomas Cummins, survived.

Clemons confessed to the killings, but later recanted. His lawyers say the confession was beaten out of him by police interrogators.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Michael Manners will oversee the hearing.

He will then issue a report to the Missouri Supreme Court, which will decide whether Clemons should get a new trial.

The Supreme Court could also decide to commute Clemons' death sentence.