(Bonne Terre, MO) – Missouri has executed its fourth state prisoner this year.
Christopher Collings, 49, was declared dead at 6:10 p.m. Tuesday at the state prison in Bonne Terre.
The southwest Missouri man was put to death for raping and murdering a child in 2007. Collings was convicted of the crimes against 9-year-old Rowan Ford of Stella.
Missourinet was at the prison in Bonne Terre for Tuesday’s execution. Collings’s spiritual adviser, Rev. Dr. Kristen Leslie of St. Louis, was with him in his final moments.
State Department of Corrections spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said at 6:01 p.m., Collings was given a single injection of 5 grams of pentobarbital to end his life. Nine minutes later, Collings was declared dead at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center.
His body will be cremated.
According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, his final meal was served Tuesday morning – a bacon cheeseburger, breaded mushrooms, tater tots, and a chef salad.
Collings provided a final statement:
Collings requested mercy from Gov. Mike Parson and the U.S. Supreme Court, but those appeals were denied.
“We hope that all who knew and loved Rowan may find peace in knowing that justice has been done,” Parson said in a written statement.
Pojmann said 44 people opposed to the death penalty protested today on the grounds of the prison.
Other prisoners Missouri executed this year are Marcellus Williams, David Hosier, and Brian Dorsey.
Eight men are currently serving death sentences in Missouri: Terrance Anderson, William Boliek, Richard Emery, Charles Mathenia, Vincent McFadden, Roosevelt Pollard, Lance Shockley, and Craig Wood.
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