Execution Date Set For Jennings Man

The Missouri Supreme Court has set an October 3rd execution date for Michael Roberts of Jennings, who was convicted of killing his neighbor and acquaintance, Mary Taylor, on February 16th, 1994. Roberts told authorities in a videotaped confession that he went to the Tayor home with the hammer the night of the murder after he and friends ran out of crack cocaine and money. After Taylor let him in, the two watched television for a time before she asked him to leave. On the way out, Roberts suddenly began striking her with the hammer. He then strangled her with a phone cord, stabbed her several times with a knife, then finally held her head under water in a large pot until she drowned. Roberts was convicted of murder in 1995 and sentenced to death.