ST. LOUIS (KTRS) — Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a former St. Louis middle school principal accused of hiring a friend to kill his pregnant girlfriend. The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office filed papers on Thursday seeking the death penalty against both 34-year-old Cornelius Green and the alleged hitman, Phillip Cutler. Jocelyn Peters…
A man convicted of fatally shooting a couple near De Soto in 1996 has had his death penalty overturned for a third time. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry called the portion of the trial that led up to Carman Deck’s latest death sentence “fundamentally unfair.” She ordered him to…
ST. LOUIS (KTRS) A St. Charles County circuit judge has granted a change of venue for the murder trial of Pamela Hupp, who authorities say killed a man she found at random in an effort to incriminate another man involved in a previous murder case in which Hupp was a key witness. Circuit Judge Jon Cunningham…
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Five legal groups are supporting a Missouri death row inmate whose execution was halted hours before it was to be carried out in 2014, saying that he can’t receive an adequate defense with the money allocated. Three national criminal defense associations, a civil rights law firm and the American Bar Association…
Lawmakers in 2012 abolished the death penalty but only for future murders
ST. LOUIS (AP) – A Missouri judge has ruled that the state must reveal the source of the drug it uses to execute prisoners. Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem’s ruling late Monday won’t take effect until appeals are exhausted. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster’s spokeswoman says the ruling is under review and declined to…
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Florida’s law unconstitutional in January
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – For the first time in decades, the Missouri Senate will debate a bill that would repeal the state’s death penalty. The bill received bipartisan support Tuesday in 4-3 vote of the Senate General Laws and Pensions Committee. The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that the full Senate has not debated a…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Attorneys for two Missouri death row inmates are suggesting reviving the gas chamber as an alternative method of execution. The inmates, Russell Bucklew and Ernest L. Johnson, argue in court appeals that medical conditions they suffer from would cause painful reactions to the chemicals used in lethal injections. The Kansas…