The State Supreme Court is continuing with its one-execution-a-month schedule. The April execution will be for William Rousan (ROOZE-on), on the 23rd. Rousan’s attorneys claim jury instructions at his trial were confusing, an issue the state says the Court and federal courts have already dealt with. Rousan, his son, Brent, and Rousan’s brother, Robert, participated in the murder of a rural Bonne Terre couple, Charles and Grace Lewis, almost twenty years ago as part of a cattle theft and robbery.
We have the case notes at http://missourideathrow.com/2008/12/rousan-william/
Brent Rousan, who was 16 at the time of the killings, pleaded guilty to two murder charges and was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without parole. Robert Rousan pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, promised to testify against his brother, and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
