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Court lifts stay of Middleton execution, set for tonight

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A 3-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated the stay of the execution of John Middleton, scheduled to happen tonight at the prison in Bonne Terre.

John Middleton (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

John Middleton (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

A District Judge had granted the stay based on Middleton’s claim that he is not competent to be executed, and arguing that the state did not give him the opportunity to raise that claim.

His attorneys could appeal the ruling. The execution is still scheduled to happen just after midnight tonight, and if delayed, could potentially take place any time before midnight Wednesday night.

Death penalty opponent, analyst consider reasons for limit to MO executions

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The Corrections Department asked the State Supreme Court not to ask it to carry out more than one execution per month. The Supreme Court has honored that request and changed its own rules to reflect it.

Missouri executed two inmates at the same time on four occasions in its gas chamber between 1938 and 1953. (photo courtesy; Adam Roberts)

Missouri executed two inmates at the same time on four occasions in its gas chamber between 1938 and 1953. (photo courtesy; Adam Roberts)

A Corrections spokesman hasn’t acknowledged the request was made, but some who watch how the death penalty is carried out in Missouri have ideas why it was made.

Rita Linhardt chairs the board of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. She thinks one group the change would benefit would be the Corrections Department’s employees.

“The people down at Bonne Terre who are actually carrying out the executions,” Linhardt refers to specifically. “I would imagine that an execution is very disruptive to the normal prison routine, and so I would think the DOC needs time to prepare for this not just only logistically but also emotionally … so I would think this ruling of having no more than one a month would help in some way those type of burdens on DOC workers.”

A spokesman at the Missouri Correctional Officers Association says it has no comment on the rule change.

Linhardt thinks the one-per-month limit could also benefit attorneys who represent clients who are under a death sentence, who often represent multiple clients.

“They don’t even one want one (execution) a month, but the possibility that you could be facing two of your clients in the same month … I just think would be terribly emotionally draining,” says Linhardt.

Attorney John Mills is an attorney participating in a Saint Louis University law school study of the death penalty in Missouri. He says the Department could be sensing that Missourians’ limits would be tested by more frequent executions.

“The public may have a limit in what they will tolerate in terms of executions, and (the Department) may be feeling some pressure or may sense that the public may not be willing to tolerate more than one execution per month,” Mills tells Missourinet.

Mills concedes that it could be a matter of budgeting or staffing for the Department that makes multiple executions in a month too taxing on resources, though a Department spokesman declined to comment on whether that is a factor.

The rule change was ordered by Chief Justice Mary R. Russell. No commentary was provided explaining the rationale behind it.

Missouri currently has 41 men under a death sentence, meaning it would take at least three-and-a-half years for Missouri to execute all the men currently sentenced to death in the state.

Even before the rule took effect Missouri has been scheduling one execution every month since November 2013, with only one having been blocked by the courts. Executions have been scheduled to take place July 16 and August 6.

Missouri has not historically placed such limits on executions, though the last time two inmates were executed in the same month was in October, 2001, when Michael Roberts was executed on the October 3 and Stephen Johns was executed 21 days later.

On four occasions between 1938 and 1953 Missouri executed two people at the same time using lethal gas. Prior to 1938 when the state’s death penalty was carried out by hanging, sometimes two or more condemned individuals would be hung alongside each other.

Mother of condemned man’s victim reacts to setting of his execution date

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Carol Angelbeck has been waiting 15 years since her daughter’s killer was sentenced to death. Now she has learned her wait could end in a little more than a month.

Melinda Griffin

Melinda Griffin

24-year-old Mindy Griffin was found dead in her apartment on September 30, 1995, the victim of rape and murder. Her stolen car was found later that day being driven by her neighbor, Michael Shane Worthington. His confession and DNA later tied him to the murder and he was sentenced to death in 1999.

Angelbeck, now 76, was told Monday morning that the Supreme Court has set August 6 as the date for his execution.

“I just couldn’t believe that it was finally going to come to an end. That I was finally going to not have to deal with this portion of the murder of my daughter,” Angelbeck tells Missourinet. “I didn’t have to deal with the justice system or anything else anymore. All I have to think about is my Mindy and what she would be doing by now.”

Angelbeck now lives in Florida with her husband where they raise horses. She has already started making arrangements for others to care for their property and animals, and to fly to Missouri to be here for Worthington’s execution.

She says it’s not a matter of closure or revenge for her.

“I guess I’ve always felt that if you believe … and I could be wrong … but for me, I feel like if you believe in the death penalty as a punishment for the most heinous of murders, then you should be willing to go through with the whole thing,” says Angelbeck.

She says she doesn’t know how she will feel when the execution is over.

“I’m sure that every emotion runs through your mind,” Angelbeck says. “It’s another human being dying, but yet if you think about your child that’s been murdered … I don’t know … I really don’t know what I’m going to feel until it’s over.”

Angelbeck says she hasn’t known how to feel for more than 18 years.

“We were thrown into the justice system when Mindy was murdered. I can remember the day after day after day living with this. The anger when I found out who did this to Mindy, when they showed me his picture. The anger was so bad in me for probably the first 5 or 10 years. I just couldn’t understand how he could do this to my daughter,” says Angelbeck. “It went from anger to not knowing what to do next, to trying to see that justice was done.”

One thing she does not expect is for Worthington’s death to put an end to any part of her life now. Over the years since Mindy’s death, Angelbeck has worked with and encouraged families of other murder victims as a chapter leader for Parents of Murdered Children.

She says she can’t stop that because there are still people that need help.

“One man in particular … his sister was violently murdered by a man in (the prison in) Potosi and he’s up for execution too, and I talk to him all the time,” says Angelbeck. “There’s about four or five other people, and so we all really kind of support each other.”

One of Angelbeck’s frustrations with the system concerns the length of time it takes to carry out death sentences. She notes the recent decision by the state Supreme Court in Florida that upheld that state’s “Timely Justice Act,” designed to keep condemned inmates from languishing on death row for decades before their sentences are carried out.

Still, she says if she could go back now and choose for Worthington to be sentenced to life in prison, to save herself some of the grief and struggles of the past two decades, she would not change anything.  She says it is the work she has done that has meant Mindy’s death was not in vain.

“For me, I think it was helping others as Parents of Murdered Children’s chapter leader and for fighting to see that justice is done for these victims, that, to me, is what got me through the last 18 years.”

Missouri sets August execution date for inmate Michael Shane Worthington

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The state Supreme Court has issued an execution order for a former St. Louis man sentenced to death for the September 1995 murder of his neighbor. 43-year-old Michael Shane Worthington is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection early the morning of August 6 at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.

Michael Shane Worthington (Courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

Michael Shane Worthington (Courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

Worthington was sentenced in 1999 for strangling 24-year-old Melinda Griffin to death in her apartment. Worthington had entered through a window he had cut the screen out of and strangled her to unconsciousness, then raped her until she woke up and struggled. He then beat her and strangled her to death.

Worthington was caught the next morning driving her car, which he had stolen along with her jewelry, credit cards and mobile phone. He confessed to the crime and DNA linked him to it.

Worthington could become the ninth inmate executed in Missouri since November. Missouri is next scheduled to execute John Middleton on July 16 for three drug-related murders in 1995.

Missouri executes John Winfield for 1996 double murder (VIDEO)

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Missouri has carried out the execution of 46-year-old John Winfield for the murders of two women in St. Louis County 18 years ago. Winfield received a lethal injection of pentobarbital at 12:01 Wednesday morning and was pronounced dead at 12:10.

John Winfield (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

John Winfield (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

Winfield appeared to tell the witnesses that were there for him, “I love you,” after the curtains were opened to the execution chamber. After the 5 grams of the drug was administered, Winfield took a series of deep breaths and then stopped moving. The execution appeared to take less than a minute.

Winfield declined to make a final statement and did not accept food prior to the execution. His body was released to one of his attorneys.

The execution was witnessed by five members of the family of one of the women he killed, Shawnee Murphy, as well as his ex-girlfriend Carmelita Donald whom he shot four times leaving her blind, three members of her family, his mother, his daughter, and two of his friends. There were no representatives present of the other woman he fatally shot, Arthea Sanders.

Winfield is the seventh man executed in Missouri since November, and the seventh since the state began using pentobarbital compounded by a pharmacy that the Department of Corrections will not officially confirm the identity of.

Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman Mike O’Connell offers the timeline of the John Winfield execution.

Winfield’s execution proceeded after the United States Supreme Court declined two applications for stays filed by his attorneys. One asked for a stay until the resolution of an appeal Winfield had pending in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals related to Missouri’s execution protocol. The other had asked the Court to stay his execution while it reviewed the 8th Circuit Court’s records and considered his argument that consideration of his petition for clemency was interfered with by Department of Corrections officials.

A short time later, Governor Jay Nixon (D) denied Winfield’s petition for clemency.

In a statement, Nixon wrote, “John Winfield’s violent rampage on the night of Sept. 9, 1996, left two women dead and another permanently blinded. The two murder victims, Arthea Sanders and Shawnee Murphy, were killed while trying to help Carmelita Donald escape from the armed Winfield. Carmelita Donald herself was shot and permanently blinded by Winfield, who showed no mercy that night on his victims. The jury in this case properly found that these heinous crimes warranted the death penalty, and my denial of clemency upholds the jury’s decision.

“I ask that the people of Missouri remember the victims of John Winfield, both those who were killed and those who survived, and keep them and their families in their thoughts and prayers.”

After the execution was carried out, Attorney General Chris Koster also issued a statement. He writes, “Nearly two decades have passed since John Winfield’s cowardly acts of rage and jealously changed the lives of three families forever. He brutally murdered two defenseless young women, one in front of her children, and attempted to murder the mother of his own children, leaving her permanently disabled. For his actions, a court lawfully sentenced him to death under Missouri law, and tonight that sentence has been carried out.”

Ahead of Winfield’s lethal injection, Missouri was again the subject of national attention for its executions. It was one of three executions scheduled to take place within 24 hours of one another from Tuesday to Wednesday evening. It became the second execution since one widely regarded as “botched” in Oklahoma; that of Clayton Lockett in April.

An independent autopsy has revealed that the execution team there failed to set a properly functioning intravenous tube in Lockett’s leg. He died of a heart attack 43 minutes after the first drugs were administered.

A condemned Georgia inmate, Marcus Wellons, was executed late Tuesday night by lethal injection for the 1989 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl. In Florida, John Ruthell Henry is scheduled to be executed Wednesday evening for murdering his wife in 1985.

 

UPDATE: Attorney General asks federal judge to change order halting next week’s execution

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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.

See earlier story

Stay issued in execution scheduled for next week cites concern of interference in clemency process

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A federal judge has issued a stay in the execution of condemned inmate John Winfield, which is scheduled to take place next week. U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry cites concerns that Department of Corrections officials interfered with the clemency process.

John Winfield (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

John Winfield (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

Lawyers for Winfield say Corrections officials pressured an employee of the prison at Potosi not to write a letter in support of a request for clemency for Winfield. The employee informed his superiors that he had been approached by an attorney for Winfield regarding the clemency proceeding and learned the next day that he was under investigation by the Corrections Department’s Investigator General’s Office for “over-familiarity” with Winfield.

Judge Perry’s order staying next week’s execution also instructs Corrections officials and staff including Director George Lombardi and the wardens of the prisons at Bonne Terre and Potosi not to interfere with corrections employees’ providing of statements in support of clemency for Winfield.

Winfield was sentenced to death for the 1996 murders of Arthea Sanders and Shawnee Murphy, friends of his ex-girlfriend.

Hearing set for convicted murderer whose execution was halted in May

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A hearing date of September 9 has been set for the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to hear arguments in the case of a convicted Missouri inmate whose execution was halted last month.

Russell Bucklew (courtesy, Missouri Department of Corrections)

Russell Bucklew (courtesy, Missouri Department of Corrections)

The U.S. Supreme Court wants the Appeals Court to hear the claims by attorneys for 46-year-old Russell E. Bucklew that he has a medical condition that could result in suffering if he undergoes a lethal injection, which would violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

Bucklew has a condition known as cavernous hemangioma that results in malformed blood vessels. His attorneys argue that could cause, among other things, a painful or prolonged lethal injection.

Attorney Cheryl Pilate says the potential for suffering is greater because of Missouri’s policy of secrecy regarding its execution procedures and drugs.

“A protocol in which virtually nothing is known about either the drug itself or its safety or where it came from or how certain things are going to be done during the execution,” says Pilate. “The secrecy is a factor that is common to all these executions that we’ve seen carried out in Missouri but because of Mr. Bucklew’s unique medical condition, we believe the risks to him were heightened.”

Pilate says it would be inappropriate to speculate about the outcome of her client’s case, but notes that if the state is prevented from giving him a lethal injection, it is unclear how Missouri might proceed. State law only allows for executions to be carried out by lethal injection or lethal gas.

“It’s my understanding the state is not prepared to proceed with lethal gas, so it would appear that absent some other kind of statutory authorization that there would not be other options,” says Pilate.

Bucklew was sentenced to death in 1997 for fatally shooting Michael Sanders in Cape Girardeau County. Bucklew believed Sanders to be his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. Bucklew then kidnapped and raped his ex-girlfriend before getting involved in a gunfight with authorities that left him and a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper wounded.

Missouri is scheduled to carry out early Wednesday morning the lethal injection execution of John Winfield for the murders of Arthea Sanders and Shawnee Murphy, friends of his ex-girlfriend.

US Supreme Court halts execution of convicted murderer Russell Bucklew

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The execution of convicted Missouri inmate Russell Bucklew has been halted by the Supreme Court of the United States.

Russell Bucklew (courtesy, Missouri Department of Corrections)

Russell Bucklew (courtesy, Missouri Department of Corrections)

The Court ruled the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals should consider the appeal filed by Bucklew’s attorneys. They argue that a rare medical condition affecting Bucklew’s blood vessels creates a heightened risk that he would suffer during a lethal injection. They also challenge the policy of secrecy by the Missouri Department of Corrections regarding the maker of its lethal injection drug, pentobarbital.

See the Court’s order

Bucklew was sentenced to death for the 1996 murder in Cape Girardeau County of Michael Sanders, thought to be the boyfriend of Bucklew’s ex-girlfriend. Bucklew committed the murder in front of Sanders’ 6-year-old son, who he also shot at and missed, before kidnapping his ex-girlfriend whom he raped and assaulted. He was captured after a shootout that left him and a Highway Patrolman wounded.

His execution had been set for 12:01 Wednesday morning at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre but the Supreme Court issued a stay late Tuesday night, and issued its order Wednesday afternoon.

U.S. Supreme Court stays Russell Bucklew execution, Gov. Nixon denies clemency

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The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a stay of execution for condemned Missouri inmate Russell Bucklew. He was sentenced to die by lethal injection after midnight Wednesday morning for the 1996 murder of Michael Sanders.

Russell Bucklew (courtesy, Missouri Department of Corrections)

Russell Bucklew (courtesy, Missouri Department of Corrections)

Attorney General Chris Koster (D) says the full Court is anticipated to consider Bucklew’s pending requests on Wednesday. He notes in his statement that the execution warrant for Bucklew is valid through midnight, Wednesday night, meaning the execution could be carried out any time May 21.

Bucklew’s attorneys argue that he suffers from malformed blood vessels that could increase the risk of pain and suffering or a prolonged lethal injection.

The timing of this stay by the U.S. Supreme Court is similar to events leading up to the execution of Allan Nicklasson in December.  He had been scheduled to be executed at 12:01 the morning of December 11 but a stay was issued by the Court late the night before, with the Court hearing arguments on December 11.  His execution was eventually carried out after a delay of nearly 23 hours.

Governor Jay Nixon (D) has meanwhile denied a petition for clemency for Bucklew.

In his statement, Nixon says, “Russell Bucklew came to the home of Michael Sanders armed and with the intent to murder him. After storming into the home and fatally shooting Mr. Sanders, Bucklew fired a shot at Sanders’ six-year-old son, but missed. Bucklew then continued on a rampage of violence, including the armed kidnapping and rape of his former girlfriend and a shootout with the Missouri State Highway Patrol that left a trooper wounded. The jury in this case properly found that these heinous crimes warranted the death penalty, and my denial of clemency upholds the jury’s decision.

“I ask that the people of Missouri remember Michael Sanders and keep his family, as well as the other victims of Russell Bucklew’s crimes, in their thoughts and prayers.”