ST. LOUIS (AP) — A new coalition of Missouri lawyers and law professors that includes a former governor and a retired state Court of Appeals judge is asking Gov. Jay Nixon to commute the prison sentences of 14 women, most of whom it says were victims of domestic violence.

The Community Coalition for Clemency made its public appeal at a Tuesday morning news conference at the Saint Louis University School of Law. The announcement coincides with Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Group members said the women received sentences disproportionate to their crimes, and in some cases more severe than those received by men convicted of similar offenses.
Nixon has granted just one clemency request since taking office in 2009, by far the fewest among Missouri’s previous six governors.