Eyes Turn to Missouri

Monica Davey writes, "Executions Debated as Missouri Plans One," for today's New York Times.

Officials in this state are preparing to execute a prisoner for the first time since 2005, when criticisms about the state’s lethal injection method emerged and one doctor who carried out executions acknowledged being dyslexic and sometimes “improvising” when it came to the amounts of chemicals he administered.

That doctor will no longer take part, and a United States Supreme Court ruling last year upheld a lethal injection procedure similar to the one Missouri will use, but some lawmakers, including some prominent Republicans, say they have lingering questions about the state’s system of capital punishment.

The focus of those questions has shifted some, no longer centering on the method of execution but turning toward which prisoners are condemned and which are not, and whether those choices make sense.

“I still favor the death penalty, but I just want to make sure we put the right people to death,” said State Representative Bill Deeken, a Republican, explaining why he last week proposed delaying the death penalty for two years more until a study can determine whether it is meted out fairly in this state. “At this point, we just do not know.”

In 2006, a federal judge had found the state’s methods so chilling that he ordered a stop to executions — and a remaking of the system here — until state officials issued a protocol for lethal injection that satisfied him.

At 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, Dennis J. Skillicorn is to be executed for his role in the murder of Richard Drummond, a businessman who had offered help to Mr. Skillicorn and two others when he saw their car broken down on the side of a road one night in August 1994. Mr. Drummond was forced to drive to a remote area, then was shot and killed, and the men drove away in his car.

And:

On Monday, the State Supreme Court rejected a request for a stay, and lawyers for Mr. Skillicorn filed a similar request with the United States Supreme Court. They have three other appeals pending in the federal courts, and met on Monday with counsel to Mr. Nixon, who previously served as attorney general.

Mr. Nixon declined interview requests. His aides said he was giving Mr. Skillicorn’s clemency request “a full and fair review.”

"Religious leaders seek clemency for Skillicorn from governor," is Chris Blank's AP report via the Kansas City Star.

Religious leaders who have worked in prison with convicted killer Dennis Skillicorn urged Gov. Jay Nixon on Monday to spare his life.

Skillicorn, 49, is scheduled to be executed at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, and state and federal courts so far have rejected requests for delays. Skillicorn would be the first person executed in Missouri in almost four years.

Speaking to reporters Monday at the state Capitol, several people who have worked with Skillicorn in prison said his death sentence should be lifted. They said his counsel to fellow inmates makes society safer.

"Dennis is a very good apple, if you will," said Sam Finley, who has worked with Skillicorn through Master Life, a Bible study and service organization. "He's a positive apple in a big bushel. If you take that apple out, something's going to replace that apple."

While in prison, Skillicorn has assisted with terminally ill prisoners, a family strengthening program for inmates and their children, a national death row newsletter and efforts to set juvenile offenders straight.

His supporters say the former Kansas City man has turned his life around during his latest stint in prison.

And:

One of the people who says Skillicorn should be spared is Jack Pyle.

Pyle — now 60 years old and living in the Fort Worth, Texas-area — said he was being held on drug-related charges at the Clay County, Mo., jail in 1994 when he met Skillicorn. Pyle said that Skillicorn warned him to take control of his life while pointing to himself as an example for the consequences of not doing that. The two have stayed in touch through letters and phone calls.

"He showed me that my thinking was so flawed, and he pointed it out to me that if I didn't get my act together, I was going to be where he is today. And that hit home," Pyle said. "It took a while, I didn't come around overnight. But he was determined, he will persevere."

Deciding whether to grant clemency will be up to Nixon, who until January led the attorney general's office that defended Skillicorn's conviction. Spokesmen for Nixon have said the governor believes in the death penalty as a deterrent to crime but will consider clemency requests that are submitted.

The St. Joseph News-Press columist Ken Newton's latest is, "State back in business of executions."

Stuck behind bars, killers convert with regularity. Incarceration provides time to find just the right words.

But this case provides a twist. The inmate put his words into action. He edited a magazine called Compassion, whose prisoner-written articles focus on healing for victims. He involved himself in a prison hospice, extending dignity to the deaths of imperfect souls. He helped raise money for scholarships that went to the family members of murder victims.

Does the good done in a latter-day life offset the evil done earlier?

Are laws established to create a better society or exact punishment?

Those questions will be answered after midnight.

In the evening hours, vigils and prayer services will be held in connection with the execution. In St. Joseph, an event begins at St. Francis Xavier Church at 6 p.m. In Savannah, a vigil starts at 7 p.m. at St. Francis Chapel in the LaVerna Heights Building.

Prayers will be said for the soon-to-die convict and for the souls of murder victims.

There is another view. In response to one Skillicorn story, an online posting contained these words: “End it, put him down like a dog if it had bitten you more then once.”

Since 1994, there have been about 5,900 murders in Missouri. Most of those years, the state conducted executions.

Call it vengeance, or call it justice. In a majority-rules nation, the state resumes its killing concern.

Earlier coverage is here.