missouri death row | My Crime Library

Michael Taylor Missouri Execution

Michael Taylor was executed by the State of Missouri for the sexual assault and murder of a fifteen year old girl. According to court documents Michael Taylor and Roderick Nunley would kidnap fifteen year old Ann Harrison from a bus stop. The teen girl would be repeatedly sexually assaulted before being murdered. Both Michael Taylor and Roderick Nunley would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Roderick Nunley would be executed in 2015. Michael Taylor would be executed by lethal injection on February 26, 2014.

Michael Taylor More News

Missouri has gone ahead with executing a death-row prisoner using a drug from an unspecified source. The lethal injection of pentobarbital used to kill Michael Taylor, 47, who raped and murdered a teenage girl in 1989, was presumed to have been bought by the state from a compounding pharmacy – a supply arrangement that sparked legal challenges over the potential cruelty of using an unregulated drug.

Taylor offered no final statement. He mouthed silent words to his parents, two clergymen and two other relatives who witnessed his death. As the process began he took two deep breaths before closing his eyes for the last time.

Taylor was pronounced dead shortly after midnight. Federal courts and the governor had refused last-minute appeals from his attorneys, who argued that execution drugs purchased from a compounding pharmacy could have caused Taylor inhuman pain and suffering.

Nunley also was sentenced to death and is awaiting execution.

In their appeal Taylor’s attorneys questioned Missouri’s use of an unnamed compounding pharmacy to provide pentobarbital. They also cited concerns about the state executing inmates before appeals were complete and argued that Taylor’s original trial attorney was so overworked that she encouraged him to plead guilty.

Taylor’s attorneys argued use of the drug from an unspecified source could cause an inmate pain and suffering because no one could check if the maker was legitimate and had a record of producing safe drugs.

The official makers of pentobarbital refuse to sell it for executions.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/26/michael-taylor-executed-by-missouri-using-compounded-pentobarbital

Herbert Smulls Missouri Execution

Herbert Smulls was executed by the State of Missouri for a robbery murder that took place in 1991. According to court documents Herbert Smulls would murder Stephen Honickman during a robbery in 1991. Herbert Smulls would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Herbert Smulls would be executed by lethal injection on January 29, 2014

Herbert Smulls More News

Missouri has executed a man convicted of killing a jewellery store owner during a 1991 robbery after the US supreme court denied last-minute appeals that in part challenged the drug used in the execution.

“After the United States supreme court vacated three separate stays of execution on January 29 2014, Herbert Smulls was executed for the 1991 murder of Stephen Honickman,” said Chris Koster, the Missouri attorney general.

Smulls, 56, was pronounced dead at 10.20pm local time at a state prison in Bonne Terre after receiving a lethal dose of pentobarbital, the corrections department said.

The supreme court on Wednesday lifted a temporary stay of execution for Smulls, denying last-minute appeals. The top court late on Wednesday also vacated a stay from the US court of appeals.

Lawyers for Smulls sought another stay late on Wednesday but Missouri went ahead with the execution before the midnight expiration of the state’s death warrant.

Lawyers for Smulls had sought to block his execution on multiple grounds, arguing in part that the compounded pentobarbital drug Missouri used to kill him may not be as pure and as potent as it should be, which could cause undue suffering.

Missouri and several other states have turned to compounding pharmacies, which are not regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration, to acquire drugs for executions after an increasing number of pharmaceutical manufacturers objected to their drugs being used in capital punishment.

The increasing use of compounded drugs and untested drug mixes has brought renewed debate over the death penalty in the United States. In Oklahoma an inmate said he felt burning through his body when the lethal drugs were injected during an execution in early January. Later in the month an Ohio man gasped and convulsed during his execution with a two-drug mix never before used in the United States.

Smulls was the sixth person executed in the United States in 2014 and the third in Missouri since November.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/30/herbert-smulls-executed-as-appeals-fail

Roderick Nunley Missouri Execution

Roderick Nunley was executed by the State of Missouri for the murder of a fifteen year old girl. According to court documents Roderick Nunley and Michael Taylor would abduct the victim fifteen year old Ann Harrison as she stood at the end of the driveway waiting for a school bus. The teenager would be sexually assaulted and murdered. Roderick Nunley would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Roderick Nunley would be executed by lethal injection on September 1, 2015. Michael Taylor was executed in 2014

Roderick Nunley More News

Roderick Nunley has become the sixth death row inmate executed in Missouri this year.

He was put to death by lethal injection Tuesday at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre for the 1989 murder of 15-year-old Ann Harrison.

Nunley’s lethal injection began at 8:58 p.m., and he was pronounced dead at 9:09 p.m., according to the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Spokesman Mike O’Connell said Nunley’s last meal consisted of a steak, shrimp, chicken strips, salad, and a slice of cheesecake. Nunley did not provide a final statement.

O’Connell also said Nunley declined to use a sedative before being given pentobarbital, the drug used for executions in Missouri, and that there were no complications.

Ann Harrison’s family did not provide a statement after the execution, which was witnessed by an uncle and two family friends.

Corrections Director George Lombardi read a prepared statement from Gov. Jay Nixon:

Tonight, as we remember Ann Harrison, our thoughts and prayers are again with Bob and Janel Harrison, and the other members of Ann’s family. The acts of violence that took this 15 year old who was full of life and promise away from her loved ones can never make sense to us. The two men who were found guilty of Ann’s kidnapping, rape and murder have now had their sentences carried out. But even as there is judicial closure tonight, we know that a Missouri family will always miss and grieve the young woman who has been gone for more than 26 years. We grieve with them. So, I ask that Missourians join me in keeping the family of Ann Harrison in their thoughts and prayers tonight.

Attorney General Chris Koster also issued a brief statement:

“Roderick Nunley murdered 15-year-old Ann Harrison in 1989, pled guilty, and was sentenced to death. Despite openly admitting his guilt to the court, it has taken 25 years to get him to the execution chamber. Nunley’s case offers a textbook example showing why society is so frustrated with a system that has become too cumbersome.”

Pete Edlund is a retired Kansas City police officer who led the investigation into Harrison’s death.

“I’m just glad that justice, 25 years later, is finally served,” Edlund said. “It’s a sad commentary on the system that people who have committed violent vicious crimes don’t receive just punishment in a timely manner.”

Nunley’s attorney, Jennifer Herndon, has not responded yet to requests for comments.

Updated 9/1/2015, 8:02 p.m. — A second request for a stay of execution, a writ of habeus corpus, for Roderick Nunley has been denied by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Within minutes, Gov. Jay Nixon denied Nunley’s request for clemency:

After deliberate consideration of its merits and the facts of this case, I have denied this petition. As Governor, this is a power and a process I do not take lightly. Each instance involves a very specific set of facts, which must be considered on its own. On the morning of March 22, 1989, 15-year-old Ann Harrison was waiting for the school bus at the end of the driveway of her Raytown home when she was abducted, raped, and then stabbed to death by Roderick Nunley and Michael Taylor. The capital punishment sentence given to Taylor for his role in these brutal crimes was carried out last year. Nunley also pleaded guilty to these heinous crimes and was sentenced to death. My decision today upholds this appropriate sentence. I ask that Missourians remember Ann Harrison at this time and keep her parents, Bob and Janel Harrison, and the Harrison family in your thoughts and prayers.

Updated 9/1/2015, 5:43 p.m. — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a stay of execution for Roderick Nunley, who’s scheduled to die by lethal injection at Missouri’s Bonne Terre prison as early as 6 p.m. tonight.

Nunley was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of 15-year-old Ann Harrison in the Kansas City area.

This is a developing story and we’ll have more details as they come in.

Original story

Pending a stay or clemency, Roderick Nunley will become the sixth death row inmate executed in Missouri this year and the 18th since the state resumed executions in November 2013.

Nunley was sentenced to death for the 1999 kidnapping, rape and murder of 15-year-old Ann Harrison in Kansas City. He was charged along with Michael Taylor, who was executed last year.

According to police reports and court documents, Nunley and Taylor had been using cocaine the night of March 21, 1989, and then stole a car during the early morning hours of March 22. They saw Ann Harrison standing in her driveway waiting on a school bus. When they pulled up to her, Taylor grabbed her, pulling her inside the car.

Nunley then drove to his mother’s house in Grandview, a suburb of Kansas City, where Harrison was taken blindfolded into the basement. He said in court that Taylor raped Harrison while he did nothing to prevent it, and that they both later agreed to kill her to prevent her from testifying against them in court.

Harrison was stabbed multiple times and left in the trunk of the stolen car to die. Both the car and her body were discovered three days later in a nearby neighborhood.

Nunley pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 1991, in the hopes of receiving a life sentence, but after a three-day sentencing hearing he was sentenced to death.

In 1994, Nunley filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, which was rejected. His attorneys had argued that he suffered from a “dependent personality disorder” and that his judgment was impaired due to his cocaine use when Harrison was murdered. They also accused the Jackson County prosecutor’s office of having a track record of racial discrimination when pursuing the death penalty in cases where the defendant was African American and the victim was white.

Late Friday, the Missouri Supreme Court rejected Nunley’s request to withdraw the execution warrant, and a motion on Monday to reconsider that decision was also rejected.

Meanwhile, Nunley’s attorney, Jennifer Herndon, has filed another appeal based on the state’s refusal to disclose where it gets its execution drug, although that maneuver failed to halt other executions carried out in Missouri this year. The Marshall Project, which has put forth several articles critical of the death penalty, recently had an article that was critical of Herndon.

Nunley’s window of execution is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday night.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2015-09-01/missouri-executes-roderick-nunley-for-1989-murder

David Zink Missouri Execution

David Zink was executed by the State of Missouri for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of a nineteen year old woman. According to court documents David ZinK would kidnap Amanda Morton by hitting her vehicle with his car. When the woman got out of the vehicle David Zink would grab her and bring her to a motel where she was sexually assaulted. Amanda Norton was later brought to a cemetery where she would be tied to a tree and murdered. David Zink would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Zink would be executed by lethal injection on July 14, 2015 by lethal injection

David Zink More News

A Missouri inmate who killed a 19-year-old woman in 2001 after sexually attacking her and tying her to a cemetery tree was put to death Tuesday evening, after the U.S. Supreme Court and the state’s governor declined to block his execution.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied all appeals from 55-year-old inmate David Zink and Gov. Jay Nixon denied a clemency request.

Zink was executed by lethal injection at 7:33 p.m., he was declared dead at 7:41 p.m., according to the Missouri Department of Corrections.

“The horror and fear 19-year-old Amanda Morton must have felt after being kidnapped by David Zink that July night is truly unimaginable,” Attorney General Chris Koster made the following statement following the execution. “David Zink callously took a young woman’s life, and it is fitting he pay by losing his own.”

Zinks last meal was a cheeseburger, french fries, cheesecake and a soft drink, official said.

In a final statement, Zink said:

“I can’t imagine the pain and anguish one experiences when they learn that someone has killed a loved one, and I offer my sincerest apology to Amanda Morton’s family and friends for my actions. I hope my execution brings them the peace and satisfaction they seek.I also have to apologize to the second set of victims, my family and friends, that had the unfortunate circumstance of developing emotions which will now cause them pain and suffering upon my execution. I kept my promise to fight this case for their benefit, and although unsuccessful to prevent the execution, we have been successful in exposing some serious flaws that offend the basic concept of the American Justice System.For those who remain on death row, understand that everyone is going to die. Statistically speaking, we have a much easier death than most, so I encourage you to embrace it and celebrate our true liberation before society figures it out and condemns us to life without parole and we too will die a lingering death.”

Jurors in western Missouri’s St. Clair County deliberated 90 minutes in 2004 before convicting Zink and recommending a death sentence for the killing of Amanda Morton. Authorities said Zink abducted her after hitting her car from behind on an Interstate 44 exit ramp a mile from her Strafford home. Morton was driving home after visiting a friend.

Police found Morton’s Chevrolet Cavalier abandoned on the ramp with the keys in the ignition, the engine running and the headlights and hazard lights on. Her purse, credit card and medication were found inside the vehicle.

Just months before the slaying, David Zink had been released from a Texas prison after serving 20 years on rape, abduction and escape charges. Fearing that his drunken fender-bender with Morton could violate his parole and send him back to prison, Zink initially abducted Morton, taking her to a motel. That site’s manager later saw a televised news report about Morton’s disappearance, recognized her as the woman who had checked in with Zink, and gave investigators Zink’s name and license plate number from motel registration.

David Zink, after being arrested at his parents’ home, led authorities to Morton’s buried body in a cemetery, confessing matter-of-factly and at times laughing on videotape that he had tied her to a tree there and told her to look up. When the bewildered Morton begrudgingly glanced skyward, Zink said, he snapped her neck.

Worried that Morton might regain consciousness, David Zink admitted, he used a knife to sever her spinal cord at the neck and covered her body with leaves before retrieving from his home a shovel he used to bury her.

“If I think that you’re going to pose a threat to my freedom, it is set in my mind I want to eliminate you,” Zink says in his videotaped confession.

An autopsy later showed that Morton had eight broken ribs and 50 to 100 blunt-force injuries. Morton also had been sexually assaulted, with DNA evidence linked to Zink found on her body.

Missouri has executed five men this year and 16 since November 2013. Only Texas has executed more inmates over that span

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/missouri-killer-david-zink-executed-after-court-governor-refuse-intervene-n392246

Richard Strong Missouri Execution

Richard Strong was executed by the State of Missouri for a double murder. According to court documents Richard Strong would stab to death Eva Washington and her daughter, Zandrea Thomas. When police were investigating a 911 call where a neighbor heard Eva screaming Richard Strong would be arrested at the scene and admitted to the murders. Richard Strong would be convicted and sentenced to death. Richard Strong would be executed by lethal injection on June 10, 2015

Richard Strong More News

A Missouri man who killed his girlfriend and her two-year-old daughter with a butcher knife has been put to death.

Richard Strong, 47, was executed at the state prison in Bonne Terre for the deaths of Eva Washington and her daughter, Zandrea Thomas, more than 14 years ago. He was the fourth man to die by injection in Missouri this year and the 16th since November 2013. Only Texas has executed more inmates over that span.

The bodies of Washington and her daughter were found in October 2000 in Washington’s apartment in the St Louis suburb of St Ann. A large butcher knife was found on a bed next to a pool of blood. Strong and Washington’s daughter together, three-month-old Alyshia Strong, was also on the bed but wasn’t harmed.

St Ann police received an emergency call from Washington’s apartment on 23 October 2000, during which a scream was heard. Officers headed to the apartment, where Strong met them outside. He initially told them Washington was sleeping, then said she had gone to work.

Officers saw blood stains on his hand, at which point Strong tried to run. When they caught him, he admitted to the killings. Inside, police found the bodies and the unharmed three-month-old.

Strong’s attorney, Jennifer Herndon, said Strong and Washington both had a history of mental illness and frequently argued.

“He just snapped,” Herndon said. “It was just sort of a powder keg waiting to explode. It wasn’t a healthy relationship.”

Alyshia Strong was taken in by Strong’s mother. Despite the killings, she grew close to her father, frequently visiting him in prison. A clemency request to governor Jay Nixon relied heavily on Alyshia’s words describing the importance of her father in her life.

“l know some people probably wonder how I can have a relationship with my father given that he killed my mother, but we are very close,” Alyshia, now 14, wrote.

“I understand that my father needs to face consequences and to pay for what he did, but I do not think it is right for me to lose my father as part of the punishment,” she added.

On Monday, in an interview with the Associated Press, she said, “I’ve never been angry with my dad and I’ve learned to forgive.”

Strong’s fate was sealed when Nixon declined the clemency request and the US supreme court refused to intervene. The defence had asked the court to halt the execution because Strong was mentally ill, suffering from severe depression.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/09/missouri-death-row-richard-strong