pentobarbital Archives

Missouri executes convicted murderer John Middleton after delays

July 16, 2014 By Mike Lear

Missouri inmate John Middleton has been executed after a series of final hour requests for stays and a delay were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.

John Middleton (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

Missourinet News Director Bob Priddy witnessed Middleton’s execution and reports the time of death was 7:06 p.m.

His execution for the murder of Alfred Pinegar in Northwest Missouri in 1995 was scheduled to have happened at 12:01 Wednesday morning but was delayed through the day by various court filings.

Middleton was also convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of Randy Hamilton and Stacey Hodge that same year.

After the Missouri Supreme Court strongly rejected Middleton’s claim that he was incompetent to be executed, his three requests for stay to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito were rejected.

See Bob’s story with members of Middleton’s victims’ families, who spoke following the execution.

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

July 1, 2014 By Mike Lear

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

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

June 30, 2014 By Mike Lear

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)

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)

June 18, 2014 By Mike Lear

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)

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.

Hearing set for convicted murderer whose execution was halted in May

June 12, 2014 By Mike Lear

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)

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

May 21, 2014 By Mike Lear

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)

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.

Victims’ son: ‘no real satisfaction’ from execution of William Rousan (VIDEO)

April 23, 2014 By Mike Lear

The state of Missouri has carried out the execution of William Rousan, who was convicted of the murders of Grace and Charles Lewis in 1993.

Following his execution early Wednesday morning, one of the Lewises’ children, Michael, read the following statement to the media:

“I draw no real satisfaction from Mr. Rousan’s incarceration or execution, for neither can replace or restore the moments lost with my parents or give my sons back the grandparents they never got to know. Nor can it fully heal the broken hearts and lives of our family, or his family who my heart also goes out to.

“I hope that Mr. Rousan made peace with Jesus, for that is what Charles and Grace Lewis would want, for sure.

As for the death penalty, I think the delay from sentencing to finalization is too long. I have never thought of it as revenge or justice served in terms of an “eye for eye” so to speak. Nor do I see it as a big deterrent to would be criminals. But I still believe it is a humane and permanent prevention of further criminal activities by the convicted inmate.”

Lewis declined to take questions from the media. He was joined at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre by his wife, two sisters and a brother-in-law, none of whom spoke to the media.

State executes convicted killer William Rousan

April 23, 2014 By Mike Lear

The state has carried out the execution of 57-year-old William Rousan, who was convicted of the 1993 murders of a rural southeast Missouri couple in 1993. He died by lethal injection at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center at Bonne Terre, not far from where he committed the murders for which he was condemned.

William Rousan (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

A lethal dose of pentobarbital was administered at approximately 12:01. When the curtain to the execution chamber was pulled back, Rousan was speaking continuously and looked at two people in the chamber where witnesses there for him sat. Some witnesses thought he told them, “I love you.” Less than a minute later he took two deep breaths and then stopped moving. He was officially pronounced dead at 12:10.

Rousan was sentenced to death for the murder of 62-year-old Grace Lewis and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her husband, 67-year-old Charles Lewis. Rousan, his then-16-year-old son Brent and his brother Robert carried out the murders as part of a plot to steal cattle from the couple.

Rousan in his final statement said, “My trials and transgressions have been many. But thanks be to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I have a new home in his heavenly kingdom. May forgiveness and peace be found for all in our Lord Jesus Christ. In our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Rousan was visited during the day by three siblings and one brother’s spouse, a ministerial volunteer and a man identified as a friend of Rousan’s. Five members of the victim’s family witnessed the execution.

See a video statement from one of the Lewises’ sons following Rousan’s execution

Rousan’s execution proceeded after the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay his execution. His attorneys argued that secrecy regarding Missouri’s supply of pentobarbital could allow the use of a drug that would cause him undue suffering during his execution. Governor Jay Nixon (D) later denied a request for clemency for Rousan.

Rousan’s is the sixth execution carried out in as many months in Missouri. Russell Bucklew is scheduled to be executed May 21 for the 1996 murder of Michael Sanders.

Case history

On September 21, 1993, William, Brent and Robert Rousan discussed killing the Lewises on the way to the couple’s farm and agreed that “if it had to be done it had to be done.” They parked about 2 miles from the farm, pointing out the cattle they would steal as they drove past.

William and Brent Rousan argued about who would carry a .22 caliber rifle as they hiked through the woods toward the Lewis’ farm. The son said he was “man enough to do whatever needed to be done,” and his father eventually gave him the gun. He warned Brent that if they were caught they would “fry.” The three hid behind a fallen tree and waited for the couple.

As Charles Lewis was mowing the lawn he was fatally shot by Brent Rousan. Grace told her daughter on the phone she heard the gunshots and hung up to investigate. When she went outside she was shot by Brent Rousan but ran back inside the home. William Rousan followed her, put a garment bag over the upper part of her body and carried her back outside. He told Brent to “finish her off,” and the boy fired one shot into the side of her head killing her.

The Rousans took two cows, a VCR, jewelry, soda, two gas cans and a saddle. They buried Mr. and Mrs. Lewis later that night in a shallow grave and covered it with cement and manure.

The tree escaped capture for nearly a year before the VCR was sold to a pawn shop, leading police to the Rousans.

Robert Rousan testified against his brother and pleaded guilty to second degree murder. He has since been released from prison. Brent Rousan is serving a life sentence.

Attorney General issues statement on Ferguson execution

March 26, 2014 By Mike Lear

Missouri’s Attorney General has issued a statement following the execution early this morning of Jeffrey Ferguson at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.

In the statement, Chris Koster says, “More than two decades have passed since Jeffrey Ferguson kidnapped, raped, and murdered seventeen-year-old Kelli Hall. While this sentence cannot bring Kelli back, her parents have waited a quarter-century for justice for their daughter. My thoughts and prayers tonight are with Kelli Hall’s family and friends, in the hope that they can now have a degree of closure and finality on this awful crime.”

Agency reports Jeffrey Ferguson has been executed

March 26, 2014 By Mike Lear

A convicted inmate has been executed for the 1989 murder of a St. Louis County teenager.

Jeffrey Ferguson (photo courtesy, Missouri Department of Corrections)

The Missouri Department of Public Safety reports 59-year-old Jeffrey Ferguson has died by a lethal injection of pentobarbital at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre. The execution was carried out at 12:01 a.m. He was pronounced dead ten minutes later.

Ferguson and another man, Kenneth Ousley, abducted 17-year-old Kelli 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.

Missourinet will have more information on Ferguson’s execution through the morning.