MALONE, KELVIN SHELBY
General InformationDOB: January 10, 1961
Race: African-American
Gender: Male
Crime and Trial
County of conviction: St. Louis
Number of counts: One
Race of victim: White
Gender of victim: Male
Date of crime: March 18, 1981
Date of sentencing: April 26, 1984
Date of execution: January 13, 1999
Legal status:
Trial Counsel:
William Aylward
Last counsel of record:
John R. Grele
One Ecker Place, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-495-0555
Jeannie R. Sternberg
Sternberg & Sowards
608 Mission St., 9th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
Curtis L. Blood
1602 Vandalia
Collinsville, IL 62234
Last judicial decision:
--Motion for stay of execution and to reopen first habeas petition, construed as motion to file second or successive petition, and denied. See Malone v. Vasquez, 167 F.3d 1186 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, Malone v. Calderon, 525 U.S. 1097 (1999).
Reported Opinions:
--Conviction and sentence affirmed on direct appeal by State v. Malone, 694 S.W.2d 723 (Mo. banc 1985), cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1165 (1986).
--Dismissal of motion for post-conviction relief (on basis that defendant was not "in custody" because he was incarcerated in California) affirmed by Malone v. State, 747 S.W.2d 695 (Mo. App. E.D. 1988).
--Dismissal of motion for post-conviction relief (for failure of the verification requirement under Missouri Sup. Ct. R. 29.15) affirmed by Malone v. State, 798 S.W.2d 149 (Mo. banc 1990), cert. denied, 500 U.S. 929 (1991).
--Denial of habeas corpus affirmed by Malone v. Vasquez, 138 F.3d 711 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 953 (1998).
--Motion for stay of execution and to reopen first habeas petition, construed as motion to file second or successive petition, and denied. See Malone v. Vasquez, 167 F.3d 1186 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, Malone v. Calderon, 525 U.S. 1097 (1999).
Significant legal issues:
--Trial counsel's failure to present any mitigating evidence other than an academician who opined that the death penalty has no deterrent effect (among other things, trial counsel failed to interview Mr. Malone's family members, failed to have Mr. Malone psychologically evaluated, and failed to present evidence of Mr. Malone's psychological history).
--Batson claim stemming from prosecutor's use of peremptory strikes to eliminate all four African-Americans from the jury and prosecutor's failure to proffer any contemporaneous race-neutral reason for the strikes (Mr. Malone was African-American, and all twelve of his jurors were white).
--Procedural default of IAC claims through the previously-applicable "verification" requirement under Rule 29.15, in light of state court's inconsistent application of the requirement