Allen Nicklasson Archives

Three inmates’ attorneys argue against setting of their execution dates

February 24, 2014 By Mike Lear

Attorneys for three men sentenced to be executed have presented their arguments to the Missouri Supreme Court why it shouldn’t set a date for their executions. The Court ordered those attorneys to prepare those arguments in Show Cause orders issued in each case, January 29. The State Attorney General’s Office has responded to two of them.

Russell Bucklew, William Rousan and Cecil Clayton (photos courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

Among the arguments attorneys for William Rousan, Russell Bucklew and Cecil Clayton separately make is that because their clients are plaintiffs in Zink v. Lombardi, ongoing federal litigation regarding Missouri’s lethal injection process, their executions should not proceed until that has been settled. To this point, the Attorney General’s Office argues legal precedent that federal litigation is not a reason not to set an execution date. Joseph Franklin, Allen Nicklasson and Herbert Smulls were also plaintiffs in Zink v. Lombardi when they were executed in November, December and January, respectively.

Attorneys for Clayton argue that he is incompetent to understand his punishment due to a deteriorating mental state, in part because of a head injury 25 years before he fatally shot Berry County Sheriff’s Deputy Christopher Castetter in November, 1996. That injury at a sawmill resulted in the removal of part of the right frontal lobe of his brain. The Attorney General’s Office’s response to the arguments of Clayton’s attorneys is due March 5.

Attorneys for Bucklew, who in 1996 shot Michael Sanders, the presumed new boyfriend of his ex, say he suffers from malformed blood vessels that cause among other things, bleeding from his mouth and eyes, and could increase the risk of a painful or prolonged lethal injection. The state argues that doesn’t merit an indefinite delay in setting his execution date.

Rousan also claims instructions given to the jury at his trial were confusing; an issue the state says the Court and federal courts have already dealt with. Rousan, his son and brother participated in the murder of a rural Bonne Terre couple as part of a cattle theft and robbery.

Missouri is scheduled to carry out the execution by lethal injection of Michael Taylor early Wednesday morning. Taylor is one of two men sentenced to death after pleading guilty to the 1989 murder of 15-year-old Ann Harrison of Kansas City.

On Friday the State Supreme Court set March 26 as the date for the execution of Jeffrey Ferguson for the 1989 abduction, rape and murder of 17-year-old Kelli Hall in St. Louis County.

Both Ferguson and Taylor were among four men for whom the Supreme Court in December ordered attorneys to present arguments why their execution dates should not be set. The others of those four were Roderick Nunley and David Barnett. Nunley is the second man who plead guilty in the murder of Harrison. Barnett stabbed each of his grandparents more than 10 times at their Glendale home before stealing their car and $120 in cash.

State officials testify to House Committee about execution procedures (AUDIO)

February 10, 2014 By Mike Lear

The Director of the Department of Corrections has for the first time spoken publicly about the questions and controversy raised in recent months over the carrying out of executions.

Director of the Department of Corrections George Lombardi testifies to the House Committee on Government Oversight and Accountability. (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

George Lombardi has told the House Committee on Government Oversight and Accountability it is a statutory requirement that his Department conduct executions, and it is working within the statutory framework in place to do so.

“Keeping in mind, please,” Lombardi asks of the Committee, “Statute mandates the Department of Corrections to carry out executions. It doesn’t say, ‘Try your best.'”

He says it is because of that mandate that the Department looked “all over the country” for a way to acquire a drug to use in lethal injections when it became clear it could no longer use propofol.

“We found that there was a compounding pharmacy that was willing to [provide the drugs], and that’s what moved us forward to change the protocol accordingly.”

Lombardi did not confirm or dispute the identity of the pharmacy, reported to be located in Oklahoma and only now seeking a license in Missouri. He did confirm that the drugs are paid for in cash, something that he says has been true since the administration of Governor John Ashcroft.

Lombardi says all those involved in the execution protocol who must be paid are paid in cash. He says that is because those participants have made clear that they would not be involved if they were paid any other way. He says it was part of maintaining anonymity for those participants.

Lombardi tells the Committee that to pay those individuals in any other way would be “the de-factor abolishment of the death penalty.”

Listen to the testimony of Corrections Department Director George Lombardi, 28:30

His testimony was challenged by Attorney Joe Luby with the Death Penalty Litigation Center, who says Lombardi is “abusing” the state statute that requires the identities of members of an execution team to be kept secret.

“The same statute defines ‘execution team’ very narrowly,” says Luby. He quotes, “The execution team those persons who administer lethal chemicals and those persons such as medical personnel who provide direct support for the administration of lethal chemicals.”

That shouldn’t include the pharmacy, says Luby, who says then that the pharmacy’s identity should not be kept secret and it should therefore not be paid in cash.

Luby also accuses Corrections of moving too quickly in carrying out executions.

“It is absolutely unacceptable for the state to execute prisoners before the courts can resolve their claims. That has been the case with the last three prisoners who were executed in this state. This is a uniquely Missourian pattern of behavior.”

A federal judge has also been critical of the timing o the execution of Allen Nicklasson in December.

Assistant Missouri Attorney General David Hansen tells the Committee Missouri has acted within the law.

“The law is clear that the pendency of litigation is an insufficient reason to stop an execution,” Hansen says. “On January 29th, the date of [Herbert] Smulls’ execution, the State of Missouri directly went to the United States Supreme Court and asked if the execution should happen. The Court said no, the execution should not be stopped. They said that three different times on that day.”

The Chairman of the Committee, Representative Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City), says he is satisfied that Missouri has not executed while a stay was in place that should have halted it.

As for what action, if any, he thinks the legislature needs to take based on what it learned on Monday, Barnes says, “I don’t think there’s any chance of any moratorium being put in place. I also think … the legislature out to take a close look at the procedures, especially how pharmaceuticals are procured.”

Barnes refers to legislation offered by Representative John Rizzo (D-Kansas City), that proposes a moratorium while an 11-member panel reviews death penalty and execution protocol. His legislation (HB 1409) has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee but a hearing has not been scheduled.

“I really feel like this process is being spitballed together in an aspect to carry out the law,” says Rizzo, “but in the process maybe does violate law.”

Rizzo says the legislature needs to have some oversight into the execution process.

“The policy invariably forces illegalities,” Rizzo says he learned on Monday. “The Director (of corrections) has to carry out an execution, but there are no pharmaceuticals available to do that. Then he has to go above and beyond to actually go to a pharmacy that’s not regulated by the State of Missouri that, in essence, violates FDA regulations.”

Barnes noted legislation filed last week by Representative Eric Burlison (R-Springfield), HB 1737, that would make the execution protocol subject to review by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules as being one avenue for increasing oversight. That bill has not been referred to a committee. Rizzo is one of its co-signers.

Missouri is scheduled to carry out another execution on February 26; that of Michael Taylor, who pled guilty in the abduction and murder of 15-year-old Ann Harrison girl in Kansas City 1989.

Bill proposes moratorium on, study of state executions

January 14, 2014 By Mike Lear

Some state lawmakers want executions in Missouri put on hold until questions are answered about how they are being carried out.

Representative John Rizzo (courtesy, Missouri House Communications)

Representative John Rizzo (D-Kansas City) has proposed that an 11-member commission be appointed to study those same issues, and he wants executions halted through the end of this year or until that commission’s work is complete, whichever comes first.

“I want them to look into some of the pharmaceuticals that are being used … how they’re being acquired. I’d like for them to look into the most recent execution of a person that in my opinion was still in the (legal) process but then was executed.”

The issues Rizzo cites are the same ones that will be looked into by the House Committee on Government Oversight and Accountability when it meets Tuesday. It will ask how the Corrections Department determines whether a condemned man has exhausted all of his constitutional appeals. Judge Kermit Bye, in a dissenting opinion, wrote that Missouri executed Allan Nicklasson December 11, “before the federal courts had a final say on whether doing so violated the federal Constitution.”

See our earlier story on the House Oversight Committee

It will also follow-up on the report that the Department of Corrections obtained the pentobarbital used to execute Joseph Paul Franklin in November from a compounding pharmacy in Oklahoma that is not licensed in Missouri, and whether that would be a violation of state law.

Rizzo says his bill isn’t about being for or against the death penalty.

“I think it’s an opinion of … are there things that are going on that circumvent the law?”

Rizzo proposes the panel be made up of a lawmaker from each party from each chamber, a county prosecutor, a capital defense attorney, the state public defender and the Attorney General or their representatives, two treating physicians and a pharmacist.

The bill was filed Tuesday afternoon. It would have to move quickly through the legislature to impose a moratorium before the next execution that is scheduled in Missouri, that of Herbert Smulls on January 29.

Legislative oversight committee to hold hearing on state execution protocol

January 13, 2014 By Mike Lear

A House Committee that has investigated issues including the state’s role in a failed sucralose plant in Moberly and the Revenue Department’s handling of personal documents provided by applicants for Missouri driver’s licenses and concealed carry permits will hold a hearing on the state’s execution protocol.

Representative Jay Barnes (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

According to a post on the website of Representative Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City), the House Committee on Government Oversight and Accountability, which he chairs, will hold that hearing Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Barnes says the committee will look into two areas of the execution process. One is how the Department has determined whether a condemned individual has exhausted all of his constitutional appeals. That stems from a dissenting opinion filed by Judge Kermit Bye related to the execution of Allan Nicklasson, December 11.

Judge Bye wrote, “At approximately 10:52 p.m. on December 11, 2013, Missouri executed Allen Nicklasson before this court had completed its review of Nicklasson’s request for a stay of his execution, a request he brought in a pending action challenging the constitutionality of Missouri’s execution protocol. That bears repeating. Missouri put Nicklasson to death before the federal courts had a final say on whether doing so violated the federal Constitution.”

Barnes says the committee will also examine how the Department determined that it would use pentobarbital for executions, including the allegation that it obtained the drug from a pharmacy not licensed in Missouri. Some death penalty opponents say this could violate state law.

In his post, Barnes says, “Regardless of what anyone thinks of the death penalty, everyone should agree that it must be carried out according to the requirements of the Constitution and laws of our state.”

House Speaker Tim Jones (R-Eureka) told Missourinet previously that he was considering asking Barnes to call a hearing on the issue.

“This is just another example where I believe the Governor … his departments … perhaps have done something in error,” Jones said on Monday. “I’ve asked Representative Barnes if he would look into that and he said he absolutely would.”

Audit will probe Corrections Department execution procedures, drug procurement (AUDIO)

January 13, 2014 By Mike Lear

Death penalty opponents and attorneys representing condemned men say the Missouri Department of Corrections is keeping too many secrets and could be breaking state law in the way it’s obtaining drugs to carry out lethal injections. The State Auditor’s Office will explore some of those issues in the course of the audit of Corrections announced last week.

The State Auditor’s Office could look at the executions of Joseph Paul Franklin (left) and Allen Nicklasson during the course of the audit it is conducting of the Department of Corrections.

Media reports say the Department acquired the pentobarbital used in the execution of Joseph Paul Franklin in November from a compounding pharmacy in Oklahoma that is not licensed in Missouri. This has some officials asking whether that violates state law or falls into some sort of “gray area.”

Deputy State Auditor Harry Otto says the audit can include any executions that fall in its timeframe, the two fiscal years that will end June 30. That would include the execution of Franklin and the execution of Allan Nicklasson December 11, as well as any executions that happen through June 30. The only other execution for which a date has been set is that of Herbert Smulls, scheduled to happen January 29.

“There is a fair amount of public interest in this subject,” Otto says, “so we’ll look to see whether the Department has followed its own policies and procedures with respect to the execution protocol. The changes that they made … did they make them pursuant to their own policies and procedures? And we’ll try to evaluate whether or not there was any violation of state law.”

How deeply auditors will explore execution procedures depends on what they learn as the investigation is conducted.

“An auditor keeps probing until he feels he’s gotten the full story,” says Otto. “If we ask questions and they lead to further questions which leads to another angle or pursuing that to the ultimate answer … we keep going until we get the answer. If we picked one … and there are some unanswered questions, it’s likely we would pick the next one and see if that was repeated or if that was isolated.”

State law provides that some components of execution procedures be kept confidential, such as the identities of members of the execution team. Otto says his office has the authority to find out things that members of the public or the media could not because of those protections. That doesn’t mean that information would become public, however.

“There’s still confidentiality with respect to what you tell the auditor. That doesn’t always get published,” Otto tells Missourinet. “When we learn of things that are otherwise protected and they become part of our work papers, they remain protected. In other words, simply because we got the identities of certain parties, that doesn’t mean we’re going to publish those identities in our report, nor can our work papers be [obtained in a Sunshine Law request].”

Otto says if any violations of law are made public, the Auditor’s Office would refer them to the proper law enforcement agency. An audit report could be ready by this fall.

Listen to the interview with Harry Otto, 11:16

UPDATE: Missouri executes killer of ‘good Samaritan’

December 12, 2013 By Mike Lear

The state has carried out the execution of a man convicted of the murder of an Excelsior Springs businessman that had stopped to help him and two friends when their car stalled on Interstate 70 in 1994.

Allen Nicklasson in 2005 (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

Allen Nicklasson, 41, was pronounced dead at 10:54 p.m. Wednesday, just over an hour before the warrant for his death would have expired. It was the second lethal injection in Missouri in three weeks.

Officials at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center began the execution process at 10:05 p.m. Five grams of pentobarbital was injected at 10:44. Nicklasson appeared to be asleep throughout the process. Approximately two minutes after the injection he took several deep breaths, before breathing stopped at about two minutes later.

He was described by state officials as being cooperative and very calm throughout the process.

Nicklasson was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of Richard Drummond, whom Nicklasson and two other men forced at gunpoint to drive from east of Kingdom City where he found them in a stalled car, to a county road in Lafayette county. Nicklasson took Drummond into a field, told him to say his prayers and then shot him twice in the head.

One of the other men in the car that day, Dennis Skillicorn, was executed in 2009 for his role in the crime, though Nicklasson had lobbied for his sentence to be reduced saying he had acted alone in the murder. The third man, Tim DeGraffenreid, led authorities to the body and pled guilty to second-degree murder. He is serving a life sentence in prison in another state.

Nicklasson and Skillicorn also killed a couple in Arizona who offered them help when their car became stuck in the desert there. They were sentenced to life in prison in Arizona.

Nicklasson had been scheduled to be executed on the morning of October 23 in what was to have been the state’s first use of the anesthetic propofol as an execution drug. His execution was delayed amid controversy about the use of that drug.

Missouri Department of Public Safety Spokesman Mike O’Connell says Nicklasson made no final statement and had requested that his body be cremated and designated a person to receive his ashes. He was not given a sedative before the procedure, but did pray with the prison chaplain for 2 or 3 minutes about 20 minutes prior to his execution. The only witnesses to the execution were two members of the media, three private citizens and Department of Corrections officials.

The execution had been scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Wednesday but was delayed since Tuesday night as the U.S. Supreme Court considered a stay of execution placed by an appeals court on Monday over concerns about his counsel in 1996. The Court returned its decision to vacate the stay late Wednesday night and Attorney General Chris Koster informed the Department of Corrections at 10:43 p.m. that there were “no legal impediments” to the execution.

Governor Jay Nixon had earlier denied a petition for clemency and at 10:44 told prison officials there was no reason not to proceed with the process, and the injection began less than a minute later.

Three weeks ago Missouri carried out the execution of white supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin for murdering a man outside a St. Louis synagogue. His was the first execution to use Missouri’s single drug lethal injection protocol utilizing pentobarbital. Franklin’s execution was delayed more than six hours by legal proceedings. Nicklasson’s execution was delayed nearly 23 hours.

The Missouri Supreme Court has set an execution date of Jan. 29, 2014 for Herbert Smulls, who sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of a couple who owned a St. Louis County jewelry store.

Statements from Governor Nixon, Attorney General Koster on Nicklasson execution

December 12, 2013 By Mike Lear

Governor Jay Nixon issued this statement following the execution by the State of Missouri of convicted murderer Allen Nicklasson for the 1994 murder of businessman Richard Drummond:

Missouri Department of Corrections Director George Lombardi reads a statement from Governor Nixon about the execution of Allen Nicklasson.

“Richard Drummond’s act of kindness in stopping to help the occupants of a broken down car on Interstate-70 was repaid with an act of brutal and callous violence. For taking the life of this Good Samaritan, both Allen Nicklasson and Dennis Skillicorn were sentenced to die by Missouri juries, decisions that were upheld by the courts. Tonight the second of these punishments was carried out with the execution of Allen Nicklasson.

“I ask that Missourians remember Richard Drummond at this time, and keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.”

Attorney General Chris Koster, after announcing that the U.S. Supreme Court had vacated the stay of Nicklasson’s execution, issued this statement:

“The highest court in the nation has removed the last restriction to carrying out the lawfully imposed punishment of Allen Nicklasson,” Koster said. “While the sentence carried out this evening cannot lessen the loss for Mr. Drummond’s family, it nonetheless will give them the knowledge that justice has been done. My thoughts and prayers tonight are with the family and friends of Mr. Drummond.”

Execution delayed, could still happen today

December 11, 2013 By Mike Lear

A convicted murderer is still alive at this hour as the state awaits action by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Allen Nicklasson in 2005 (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

A federal appeals court is standing by a stay it placed on the execution of 41-year-old Allen Nicklasson. That caused Attorney General Chris Koster to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to have the stay vacated, and the Court said late last night it would not issue a ruling before 8 this morning.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Mike O’Connell says that has put the execution on hold until at least 10 this morning, and security at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center has been stepped down for the night.

“We’re still at a heightened state of security but we know that an execution is not going to take place until at the earliest some time in the morning, so we’ll just report back at about 8 o’clock in the morning and we’ll await word from the Attorney General and the U.S. Supreme Court.”

O’Connell says prisoners at the

O’Connell says an execution could still happen today.

“An execution warrant is good for a 24-hour period so it’s good for all of December 11.”

Nicklasson was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1994 murder of Richard Drummond, a businessman who had stopped to help Nicklasson and two other men whose vehicle broke down on Interstate 70. One of those men, Dennis Skillicorn, was executed in 2009 for Drummond’s murder. The third, Tim DeGraffenreid, is still in prison.

Nicklasson and Skillicorn also killed a couple in Arizona who offered them help when their car became stuck in the desert there. They were sentenced to life in prison in Arizona.

The state has since announced a protocol utilizing pentobarbital provided by an unnamed compounding pharmacy, and the first execution using that method was conducted November 20 on convicted murderer Joseph Paul Franklin.

Stays granted in capital punishment cases are not unusual and do not mean the execution won’t happen.

Last month two stays were issued before the execution of white supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin. Like Nicklasson, his lethal injection was scheduled for 12:01 in the morning but Franklin was not executed until after 6 that morning.

The Missouri Supreme Court denied a stay for Nicklasson on Monday.

Federal court stays Nicklasson execution, state seeks rehearing

December 10, 2013 By Mike Lear

The Attorney General’s Office has filed for a rehearing on a stay of execution for a convicted murderer scheduled to be executed tonight at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center at Bonne Terre.

Allen Nicklasson (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

A 3-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the stay for 41-year-old Allan Nicklasson, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection tonight for the 1994 murder of businessman Richard Drummond. The Court has requested briefs on four claims by Nicklasson and set a date for arguments of January 16.

The Attorney General’s Office argues that the court abused its discretion and issued an “unexplained order” staying the execution.

Stays granted in capital punishment cases are not unusual and do not mean the execution won’t happen.

The Missouri Supreme Court denied a stay for Nicklasson yesterday.

Stay denied for man scheduled for execution Wednesday

December 9, 2013 By Mike Lear

The Missouri Supreme Court has denied a stay of execution to convicted murderer Allen L. Nicklasson, who is scheduled to be put to death at 12:01 Wednesday morning.

Allen Nicklasson (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

The 41-year-old Nicklasson was convicted in the 1994 killing of Richard Drummond of Excelsior Springs after Drummond stopped to help Nicklasson and two others whose car hd broken own on Interstate 70 in Callaway County.

The Columbia Tribune reports Missouri Chief Justice Mary R. Russell’s order overruled the motion for a stay filed by Nicklasson’s attorney Jennifer Herndon.

Nicklasson, Dennis Skillicorn and Tim DeGraffenreid were the three men in the car that Drummond stopped to help on August 24, 1994. Skillicorn and Nicklasson forced Drummond at gunpoint to drive to a county road in Lafayette County where Nicklasson walked him to a wooded area and shot him twice in the head. His body was found eight days later.

Skillicorn was executed for his role in the crime in 2009. DeGraffenreid is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder.