Attorney General's News Release

August 31, 1999

Attorney General's Office to appeal federal court decisions in three capital murder cases

Jefferson City, Mo. — Attorney General Jay Nixon announced today that his office is appealing three recent federal court rulings involving inmates who were given the death sentence after being found guilty of capital murder. Nixon said his office will appeal decisions in the cases of:

• Faye Copeland, whose sentence was overturned by the federal district court. The court upheld the conviction of Copeland, who was found guilty of murder in the deaths of five transients in Livingston County during the late 1980s. She was given the death sentence on four of the murders and life without parole or probation on the fifth.
• Jahn Henri Parker, whose sentence was overturned by a three-judge panel of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court upheld Parker's conviction for the 1990 murder of his former girlfriend in Columbia.
• William Weaver, whose conviction and sentence were overturned by the federal district court. Weaver was convicted and sentenced to die for the 1987 murder in St. Louis of a man who was to be a witness in a drug trial.

"We have reviewed carefully the courts' decisions in each of these cases," Nixon said. "After examining the grounds on which the courts granted relief, it is my decision that we will pursue the reversal of those decisions."

In the cases of Copeland and Weaver, the Attorney General's Office will ask the federal appeals court to reverse the district court decisions. In the case of Parker, the Attorney General's Office will ask the appeals court panel to reconsider its decision; if that does not succeed, then the entire appeals court will be asked to look at the case.

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to Press Secretary John Fougere.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818