A federal appeals court ruled against a group of death row inmates who challenged the way Missouri carries out executions. The decision, handed down Tuesday by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, was welcomed by Missouri Attorney General’s Office. ...

Tagged with: 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cruel and unusual death penalty Eighth Amendment Lethal Injection

If you find yourself in a court of law with your money or your freedom at stake, you wouldn’t much like it if the judge was sleeping with your opponent’s lawyer. So if you’re standing trial for murder and facing ...

Tagged with: death penalty

The state of Missouri started killing people again last week. At 12:30 a.m. last Wednesday in Bonne Terre, Dennis Skillicorn was put to death for killing a Good Samaritan on Interstate 70 in 1994. While I have nothing but sadness ...

Tagged with: death penalty Dennis Skillicorn

The man whose name has sat atop nearly every lawsuit challenging the death penalty in Missouri in the last few years is dead. Dennis Skillicorn, 49, was executed by lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre at 12:34 ...

Tagged with: death penalty Dennis Skillicorn Jay Nixon Richard Drummond

The man whose name has sat atop nearly every anti-death penalty lawsuit filed in Missouri in the last few years is dead. Earlier today, Dennis Skillicorn, 49, was executed by lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Mo. Skillicorn is the first inmate to be put to death in Missouri since October 2005. Skillicorn was executed for his role in the murder of Richard Drummond, who had stopped to help Skillicorn and two other men on the side on Interstate 70. Instead, they drove Drummond to a wooded area in Lafayette County and shot him.

Tagged with: death penalty Dennis Skillicorn

With the clock ticking down, lawyers for death row inmate Dennis Skillicorn are pulling out all the stops to try to prevent the state from executing him tonight. On Monday, the Missouri Supreme Court overruled a motion he filed last Wednesday for a stay pending a judgment from the U.S. Supreme Court on a petition for a writ of certiorari in Middleton et al. v. Missouri Department of Corrections. Skillicorn is scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for his part in the August 1994 murder of Richard Drummond in Lafayette County.

Tagged with: death penalty Dennis Skillicorn

The Missouri Supreme Court has set an Aug. 7 execution date for Kenneth Baumruk, for his 1992 shooting spree in St. Louis County Circuit Court where he shot and killed his wife and wounded four others. During his divorce hearing ...

Tagged with: death penalty execution date Kenneth Baumruk Missouri Supreme Court

A federal lawsuit demands that Gov. Jay Nixon recuse himself from clemency considerations for three death row inmates, saying he can't be trusted to be objective because he prosecuted the men as attorney general. Dennis J. Skillicorn and two others say Nixon, through his representation of the Missouri Department of Corrections, "intentionally obstructed federal court appointed counsel's access to evidence in support of clemency." Based on those allegations, the Missouri Supreme Court last year granted a stay of execution for Skillicorn, who had been scheduled to die Aug 27. However, the court on Monday issued a new execution date for Skillicorn - May 20.

Tagged with: 14th Amendment attorney general clemency death penalty Dennis J. Skillicorn Jay Nixon John Middleton recuse Russell E. Bucklew

Almost 17 years after Herbert Smulls was convicted of first-degree murder it looks as if his case is coming to an end. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court said it won’t review Smulls’ claims that he is entitled to another ...

Tagged with: 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Batson Charles Rogers Cheryl Pilate Dean Waldemer death penalty Herbert Smulls Michael Wolff Missouri Supreme Court peremptory strike Snyder v Louisiana St. Louis County U.S. Supreme Court William Corrigan

A man sentenced to death for murdering his ex-girlfriend did not get any relief from the U.S. Supreme Court, which on Monday said it would not review his appeal. A St. Louis County jury convicted Scott McLaughlin of first-degree murder ...

Tagged with: Beverly Guenther death penalty Missouri Supreme Court Scott McLaughlin St. Louis County Steven Goldman U.S. Supreme Court

Guantanamo detainees, death-row prisoners and Katrina victims share a bond that a noted attorney thinks reflects a malaise at the heart of the nation's psyche. John Adams Project defense attorney Denny LeBoeuf, keynote speaker for Thursday's Death Penalty Symposium at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School, previewed the program Wednesday in delivering the Joseph Cohen Lecture. LeBoeuf summarizes her thesis this way: Guantanamo, the death penalty and Katrina are made from a single cloth woven by color, class and, in the case of "War on Terror" detainees, religion and ethnicity.

Tagged with: death penalty Denny LeBoeuf Guantanamo John Adams Project University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law