We collected nearly 100,000 signatures urging President Biden to commute Billie Allen’s death sentence along with all the others on federal and military death row.
Billie Allen continues to fight for justice
Billie Jerome Allen spent more than half of his life on federal death row. Now 47 years old, he was just 19 when he was sentenced to death in 1998 for a crime that he maintains he did not commit. His case raises serious concerns about racial bias, his young age at the time, and a lack of evidence linking him to the crime.
The jury in Allen’s case consisted of 10 white jurors and only 2 Black jurors. This is especially striking given that St. Louis, where the crime took place, has a Black population of about 46%. Since his case was prosecuted under federal law, the jury pool was drawn from a larger area which included a higher number of white neighborhoods.
In 2009, Billie Allen’s appeal lawyers asked for a hearing to address racial bias in his case. They cited data showing that of the 460 federal defendants facing the death penalty, 119 were white and 341 were from minority groups, including 237 Black people. The government argued that Billie’s claims of racial bias did not meet the requirements set by the Supreme Court in the 1987 case McCleskey v. Kemp. This ruling makes it hard to prove claims of racism in death penalty cases.
Without changes to the law, the U.S. cannot fulfill its commitments under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which requires countries to work against all forms of discrimination.
Billie Allen’s lawyers have sought DNA testing they believe could clear him, but the government has refused for years. Police found blood evidence on a bulletproof vest worn by one assailant. DNA testing excluded both the murder victim and Billie Allen as sources of the blood. The government stated that this blood evidence was not compared to Billie Allen’s co-defendant’s DNA profile. They presumed that further DNA testing would only produce more evidence against the co-defendant. Billie Allen has identified another man, who died in 1998, as the likely second assailant. If DNA testing identifies this individual, it would strengthen his case for innocence. Learn more about Billie’s case.
President Biden’s commutation of the sentences of most of the men on federal death row is a significant step towards meeting his campaign pledge, however, three men remain on federal death row with four additional men remaining on military death row.
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