NOTE: Alan Bannister has received international attention because of his appearance in several television documentaries by the British filmmaker Stephen Trombley, beginning with "The Execution Protocol". A large turnout for a protest is expected. It is still important to continue the pressure, because we sense a defensiveness from the governor and from the attorney general which are relatively new.

IMPORTANT ASPECT: INADEQUATE DEFENSE; not 1st-degree murder. Bannister's court-appointed attorney presented no meaningful defense, never spoke to him beforehand, and failed to show probable 2nd-degree murder, which does not entail the death penalty. Bannister says that he thought Darrell Ruestman, the victim, was a dangerous drug dealer and had hired men to kill him. He was in fact attacked and wounded, and thinking it was at Ruestman's instigation he went to confront him. In the resulting confrontation Ruestman was killed, but Bannister insists it was an accident.

WHAT YOU CAN DO on or before Tuesday, October 21 (any part helps):

1. Write letters to newspapers opposing the death penalty. Broader issues are good too, such as the need to provide better healing for murder victims' relatives.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Letters to the Editor
900 N. Tucker Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63101

Kansas City Star
The Letters Editor
1729 Grand Ave.
Kansas City, MO 64108

2. Write Attorney General Jay Nixon (Supreme Court Building, Jefferson City, MO 65102). We need to pressure him. Ask him if he is climbing politically over bodies of "expendable" people. He will probably be the Democratic challenger to Senator Kit Bond in 1998; we need to show him that killing as many people as he can is *not* necessarily the way to higher office.

3. Ask Gov. Mel Carnahan for clemency, 573/751-3222, fax 573/751-1495; State Capitol, Box 720, Jefferson City, MO 65101. In Kansas City: 889-3186. In St. Louis: 340-6900.

4. Write also Cranston Mitchell, Chair, Board of Probation and Parole, to recommend clemency; 117 Commerce Street, Jefferson City, MO 65109, fax 573-751-8501.

5. Our usual series of protest vigils will take place Tuesday evening, October 21:
Potosi:
candlelight vigil, outside the prison, 11:00pm-12:01am, near the front gate of the Potosi Correctional Facility, Highway O, just east of Highway 8, south off Hwy 21, or I-55 to Hwy 67 south to Hwy 8 west.

Columbia:
5:00-6:00 pm, Boone County Courthouse.
10:00 p.m.: carpool from the courthouse to Jefferson City.
Jefferson City:
10:30 pm until 12:01 am: governor's mansion.
Kansas City:
4:45-5:54 pm, J.C. Nichols Fountain, in the Plaza.
St. Louis:
8:30-9:00 p.m., Courts Bldg., 1320 Market.
In addition, Monday, Oct. 20, 11:30-12:30 at 1320 Market.

For update call 314-725-7527, 816-235-1600, 573-635-7239, or 573-449-8843

Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty
PO Box 54
Jefferson City, MO 65102
573-635-7239

WE are FADS.
WE shall remain in force until the CHANGES we seek are Accomplished.