Ann Harrison Archives

State argues for lifting of impediments to execution of Michael Taylor’s accomplice

March 10, 2014 By Mike Lear

In the days after Michael Taylor was executed for his part in the murder of a 15-year-old girl in 1989, the state is working to lift barriers to the execution of his accomplice.

Roderick Nunley (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

Taylor and Roderick Nunley participated in the abduction of Ann Harrison and her subsequent rape and murder. Nunley was also sentenced to death and in December his attorneys were asked to give the Supreme Court reason why it shouldn’t set his execution date.

Their primary argument is that he has had a stay in place for more than 3 years in the U.S. District Court in Western Missouri, stemming from an appeal of his death sentence. The Attorney General’s Office has challenged that stay.

Nunley’s attorneys have also asked the court to consider his pending request for the right to appeal a rejected habeas corpus petition, and his role as a plaintiff in a pending court challenge to Missouri’s execution protocol. The four men executed since November were also plaintiffs in that case.

Nunley’s attorneys also maintain that the way those executions were carried out violated state and federal law.

Missouri’s next scheduled lethal injection is that of Jeffrey Ferguson on March 26. Like Nunley and Taylor, Ferguson was sentenced to death for a 1989 murder; that of 17-year-old Kelli Hall in St. Louis County.

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 Supreme Court sets execution date for Jeffrey Ferguson

February 21, 2014 By Mike Lear

The state Supreme Court has issued an execution order for 59-year-old Jeffrey Ferguson for the 1989 abduction, rape and murder of 17-year-old Kelli Hall in St. Louis County. The Court has set March 26 as his execution date.

Jeffrey Ferguson (photo courtesy, Missouri Department of Corrections)

Ferguson and another man, Kenneth Ousley, abducted Hall from the St. Charles gas station she was working at on February 9, 1989. Her body was found three weeks later on a nearby farm. DNA evidence found on Hall’s coat was matched to Ferguson.

Ferguson and Ousley were charged with first degree murder but Ousley pleaded guilty and received a life sentence.

See the execution order for Jeffrey Ferguson from the Missouri Supreme Court

The next execution is set to happen early Wednesday morning. 48-year-old Michael Taylor is to receive a lethal injection for another 1989 murder, that of 15-year-old Ann Harrison of Kansas City.

Taylor and Furguson were among four condemned men, the attorneys for whom were ordered by the Court in December to present arguments why it should not set their execution dates. The other two of those four were Roderick Nunley, also involved in the murder of Ann Harrison, and David Barnett, sentenced to death for the murder of his grandparents.

Despite court challenges, state prepared to execute Michael Taylor next week (VIDEO)

February 20, 2014 By Jessica Machetta

The Missouri Department of Corrections is prepared to carry out the execution of Michael Taylor on Feb. 26 pursuant to the warrant issued by the Missouri Supreme Court. That’s the statement from the Department itself, and backed by the Governor.

A compounding pharmacy in Oklahoma that has supplied the pentobarbital used in the last three executions was ordered by a court in that state to cease sales to Missouri for the purpose of executions.

At that time, the Attorney General’s Office told Missourinet that “The Attorney General’s Office is not involved in the Oklahoma litigation. The Missouri Supreme Court has not withdrawn the warrant for Mr. Taylor’s execution.”

According to the Kansas City Star, Missouri officials now say they’ve arranged with an unidentified pharmacy to provide the lethal injection chemical for use in Taylor’s execution.

Meanwhile, Taylor’s attorneys have asked a federal judge to stay the execution, saying the state has no lawful way to carry out the lethal injection.

“We work very hard to make sure that the ultimate penalty in the state of Missouri is carried out in as humane as way as possible,” Gov. Jay Nixon said. “And we’re prepared for the execution next week. I understand others can have opinions and thoughts … my thoughts are with the review process obviously for potential commutation down the stretch but more importantly that that for the victims that continue to miss their loved ones from heinous crimes like this. We are prepared to move forward to complete this punishment in a timely fashion.”

Taylor is on Death Row for the 1989 killing of 15-year-old Ann Harrison. He and Roderick Nunley both pleaded guilty to kidnapping Harrison as she waited for the school bus, raping her, stabbing her, and leaving her in the trunk of stolen car they later abandoned, where she succumbed to her injuries.

The Supreme Court has not re-issued a death warrant for Nunley at this time.