Last minute appeals gave convicted murderer Vernon Brown an extra two-and-a-half hours, which he spent strapped to a gurney just outside the death chamber at the Bonne Terre prison. Five minutes prior to the scheduled beginning of Brown’s execution, the Attorney General’s office called prison officials and informed them the US Supreme Court had issued a temporary stay. Corrections Department spokesman John Fougere says officials decided to keep Brown on the gurney as they awaited word on whether they would be allowed to proceed. Fougere says prison officials made sure to ask Brown if he was comfortable during the time he spent on the gurney. Brown took a sedative at 1am and slept some of the time, according to Fougere. The execution proceeded at 2:30am. Brown was pronounced dead at 2:35am. Brown was executed for the murder of 9-year-old Janet Perkins of St. Louis nearly ten years ago. Brown had also confessed to killing another St. Louis woman the year before.
