The Attorney General’s Office has filed its response to the stay of execution issued for convicted inmate John Winfield, who is scheduled to be executed Wednesday.
A federal judge on Thursday issued the stay citing concerns that Department of Corrections officials interfered with the clemency process. Winfield’s attorneys say a Corrections employee was pressured not to write a letter in support of their request for clemency for Winfield.
Attorney General Chris Koster argues that the claim is moot because a copy of the employee’s letter in support of Winfield is available in public record and media reports. He says Winfield’s attorneys failed to prove that the Governor’s Office had no knowledge of the employee’s statement.
Winfield was sentenced to death for the 1996 murders of Arthea Sanders and Shawnee Murphy. They were friends of his ex-girlfriend, whom he also shot and rendered blind.