The Missouri Supreme Court has rejected the claim that a man scheduled to be executed next week is not competent to be executed.
Andre Cole (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)
Andre Cole is scheduled to die Tuesday evening by lethal injection for the 1998 stabbing death of a friend of his ex-wife’s. Cole’s lawyers offered the findings of a psychiatrist that Cole is depressed and has symptoms of psychosis, specifically delusions that keep him from understanding why he would be executed.
The Court found that he is competent, in part, by reviewing audio recordings of telephone conversations in which it says Cole demonstrated that he understands his sentence and the reason for it.
Cole’s lawyers still have multiple avenues to attempt to delay or halt his execution. It is scheduled to take place between 6 p.m. April 14 and 5:59 p.m. April 51 at the prison in Bonne Terre.
Cole was convicted of stabbing Anthony Curtis 21 times, after going to confront his ex-wife about the back child support he owed to her. He then attacked his ex-wife, Terri, stabbing her repeatedly, but she survived.