928 S.W. 2d 584 (Mo.banc 1996)

Case Facts: On September 2, 1992 Paul Kreutzer was observed in the vicinity of the home of Louise Hemphill near Louisiana, Missouri in Pike County. Mrs. Hemphill had returned home after taking one of her three children to school. Her brother had also visited her in the morning and then left the house.

Kreutzer had visited schools in the local area offering to speak to children about the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse. One of the schools was the one where Mrs. Hemphill had dropped off her daughter. At around 9:41 a.m. Kreutzer purchased a BB gun in Louisiana, Missouri.

At around 4:00 p.m. that day the Hemphill children found their mother upon their return from school. Mrs. Hemphill’s nude body was found laying on the floor of her son’s bedroom. Duct tape was wrapped around the head and foot of one of the beds and pieces of duct tape remained around Mrs. Hemphill’s ankles. Mr. Hemphill was contacted by his children. He returned home and called the police.

Mrs. Hemphill suffered multiple injuries. She had been stabbed in the neck. Bloodstains and duct tape were discovered in the bathroom and the master bedroom. Mrs. Hemphill had been struck at least three times with a baseball bat from her son’s room. The blows from the bat dislocated a vertebra in her neck and brain matter was leaking from the wound. Police found that strangulation was the immediate cause of death. A belt had been Looped around Mrs. Hemphill’s neck and used to strangle her. A hunting knife kept in the Hemphill’s kitchen was found laying on her body. Mrs. Hemphill’s purse was missing. Bloodstains on the bed cover and Mrs. Hemphill’s sweat pants matched hers and Kreutzer. A DNA sample of blood and semen found on the bedcover and Mrs. Hemphill’s person matched that of Kreutzer.

During their investigation police found that Kreutzer, on parole from Illinois, lived less than a mile from the Hemphill’s. Police arrested Kreutzer on the evening of September 2, 1992 at a nearby motel. Officers searched his car and recovered Mrs. Hemphill’s billfold, a pair of gloves with human bloodstains, a roll of duct tape and the BB gun Kreutzer had purchased that morning. Police searched the motel room where Kreutzer was staying and found a pair of jeans with human bloodstains and a receipt for the purchase of the BB gun. Kreutzer was then placed in custody and charged with Mrs. Hemphill’s murder.

918 S.W. 2d 753 (Mo.banc 1996)

959 S.W.2d 789 (Mo.banc 1997)

Michael Owsley was executed at 12:07 a.m., February 6, 2002.

Case Facts: On April 18, 1993 Elvin Iverson drove from Kansas City, Missouri to Junction City, Kansas to sell drugs. Iverson was accompanied by Ellen Cole. When Iverson and Cole returned to Iverson’s residence in Kansas City they were confronted by Michael Owsley and another individual named Hamilton. Owsley and Hamilton ordered Iverson and Cole to lie on the floor. Hamilton had a semiautomatic weapon with a silencer and Owsley had a 12 gauge shotgun.

Hamilton demanded the money from the drug sale. Iverson told him that he gave the money to another individual that was with him in Junction City. Owsley then threatened Iverson and began punching, kicking and striking Iverson with the shotgun to persuade him to tell where the money was.

When Iverson continued to deny that he had the money, Owsley took a bag from Hamilton and put it on Iverson’s head and began to smother him. At that point Hamilton asked Cole about the money and she lied by offering to take them to a key. Hamilton then tied Cole and Iverson together by their feet with an electrical extension cord and the two where then covered with a blanket.

Owsley stood over them, hitting them with the barrel of the shotgun and said, “One of you will live: one of you will die.” He put the gun to Iverson’s head. Before he fired the weapon Hamilton told Owsley to put a pillow over Iverson’s head which Owsley did. He then fired the shotgun into Iverson’s head killing him instantly.

Hamilton untied Cole and took her to his car while Owsley followed in a second car. A short time later Cole managed to escape from Hamilton’s car and notify the police of the incident. Owsley was arrested on 4-19-93.

968 S.W. 2d 123 (Mo.banc 1998)

679 S.W.2d 253 (Mo.Banc 1984)

Stephen K. Johns was executed on October 24, 2001.

Case Facts: On the evening of February 18, 1982, an Onyx Gas Station in the City of St. Louis was robbed of approximately $248. A customer who stopped at the station shortly before 8 p.m. discovered the body of the seventeen year old attendant lying face down in a storage room with bullet wounds in the back of his head. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy testified that she found three bullet holes-all within one inch of each other- behind the victim’s right ear. One of the bullets has been fired from a distance of less than six inches from the victims head. The autopsy also revealed a bruise on top of the victims head.

During the weeks proceeding the murder, Johns had discussed his plan for robbing the Onyx station with Linda Klund and David Smith, two acquaintances. Klund drove Johns and a second man, Robert Shawn Wishon, to the station. She parked the car a short distance from the station and waited while Johns and Wishon went in. When they returned, she followed an escape route planned earlier by Johns. After disposing of the money bag, Klund dropped off Wishon and then Johns. Johns gave her $50 and asked her to take a bag containing the gun and bullets so he would not have it in case he was picked up.

Johns was arrested on February 19. He was convicted of capital murder in the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis and the jury imposed the death sentence.

Stephen Johns’ Last Statement: “Missouri and its agents have killed innocent men in the past. I guess they think it just part of doing business. I have, over the past many years, heard many ‘last words’ of those killed by the State and it’s citizens. They range from “I’m sorry” to “kiss my fat ass.” If the State and its citizens kill me, I would say that I do not forgive those whose lies led to my conviction. I do not forgive the jurists who exercised their considerable intellect to deny me justified legal redress. I do not forgive those State functionaries, who act as ‘good Germans’ to kill me. I am innocent, but was not given the tools at trial, or on appeal, to make my innocence into a legal reality.” – (signed) Stephen Johns

Legal Chronology:

1982
02/18 – Steve Johns and Robert Wishon shoot and kill Donald Voepel during the robbery of a gas station in St. Louis, Missouri
03/04 – Johns is charged by indictment for Capital Murder.
10/18 – Johns’ trial in the Circuit Court of St. Louis City begins.
10/22 – The jury recommends Johns be sentenced to death.

1983
01/07 – The Circuit Court of St. Louis City sentences Johns to death. That same day Johns files a notice of appeal.

1984
10/09 – The Missouri Supreme Court affirms Johns’ conviction and sentence.

1985
03/04 – The United States Supreme Court denies certiorari review.
03/20 – Johns files a motion for post-conviction relief in the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis

1986
11/20 – The Circuit Court denies the motion for post-conviction relief.

1987
11/03 – The Missouri Court of Appeals affirms the denial of post-conviction relief.

1988
06/06 – The U. S. Supreme Court denies certiorari review.
06/23 – Johns files a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the U.S.District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

1996
07/10 – The U.S. District Court denies the petition for the writ of habeas corpus.

2000
02/08 – The Eighth U.S. Court of Appeals affirms the denial of relief in the previous ruling of the U.S. District Court
12/04 – The U.S. Supreme Court declines discretionary review.
12/14 – The State requests an execution date from the Missouri Supreme Court.

2001
09/24 – The Missouri Supreme Court sets October 24, 2001, as Johns’ execution date.