Missouri governor grants clemency to women who killed abusive family members

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) Gov. Matt Blunt has commuted the prison sentences of two women who killed the men who had abused them.

"After an exhaustive review of the facts in both cases, I am commuting the sentences of Stacey Lannert and Charity Carey, who suffered extensive abuse before they took action against the men who raped them and subjected them to other horrible physical and emotional abuse," Blunt said in a statement.

Lannert has been in custody for 18 years after killing her father in 1990 when she was 18. Blunt says Lannert was sexually abused by her father for about nine years, from the time she was 8 until his death.

While the abuse issue was raised during her trial, the jury was told not to consider that as a mitigating factor. She was convicted of first-degree murder and armed criminal action and sentenced to life without parole.

Four jurors signed affidavits saying they thought the sentence was too harsh, and Lt. Tom Schulte, the first officer to question Lannert after the slaying, told the governor's office that he strongly supported the commutation.

"The night this happened, she was 18, alone, and I told her I'd be three for her," Schulte said. "It is 18 years later and I'm still there for her."

The commutation reduces her sentence to 20 years, making her eligible for immediate conditional release. Blunt says he supports that release being granted.

Lannert initially was offered a 15-year sentence as part of a plea bargain, but she refused to sign it because she would have had to say that she killed her dad for his money.

Her case was brought to the attention of former Gov. Bob Holden at the end of his tenure in 2005 when people carried posters and pictures at the Capitol asking him to show her mercy, but Holden took no action.

Carey was convicted of second-degree murder for killing her husband in 2000 when she was 27 and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Blunt said Carey and her son suffered extreme emotional and physical abuse at the hands of her husband. Michael Carey began physically abusing her about six months into their marriage, Blunt said, and it got worse over the next three years when he began raping her and threatening to kill her and her son.

Another former wife of Michael Carey gave a deposition stating that the man had abused her and had been convicted of raping her 13-year-old daughter, but had only served 90 days in jail for that.

The woman said in her testimony that she would have liked to have killed him herself.
Charity Carey reported on Oct. 24, 200, that she found her husband's body in their mobile home after she returned from work. Her husband was shot in the head and chest, and his body was found next to him.

She later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

The commutation reduces Charity Carey's sentence to 10 years, which will allow her to be eligible for parole later this year after she has served 85 percent of the sentence.

"I was overcome with joy at the news that Gov. Blunt has commuted Charity's sentence," said Brendan Roedigre, managing attorney of the Civil Justice Clinic at Washington University School of Law.

"The faculty and especially the students at Washington University Law School's Civil Justice Clinic have worked for years to document the severity of violence perpetrated against Charity and the excessiveness of her sentence."