From WashingtonPost.com: The final words of condemned prisoners in Ohio could be edited or shortened under new state prison rules announced Thursday. The restrictions would be the first on an inmate’s final statement since Ohio resumed executions in 1999.

Ohio allowed for unlimited statements after a 1999 lawsuit challenged the policy in place at the time, which permitted only a written statement to be read after an inmate’s death. Kentucky and Washington both impose a two-minute limit, while California’s protocols allow “a brief final statement.”

Virginia allows statements but begins the execution a few seconds later regardless of whether the inmate has concluded. Pennsylvania allows only written statements to be read after an inmate is put to death.

In May, Ohio executed a man who killed a motorist who gave him a ride and shot two others during a three-week spree that terrorized the Cincinnati area in 1983. The man apologized for his crime, then recited the rosary and other prayers before he died, choking back tears as he repeatedly said the Hail Mary with rosary beads in one hand. At 17 minutes, it was the longest final statement by a condemned Ohio inmate since executions resumed 11 years ago.

The execution of prison inmate Roderick Nunley has been cancelled. The state supreme court has not withdrawn its execution warrant for Nunley, who was to be executed early this morning. But it is acknowledging that a federal judge’s stay of execution will hold. The United States Supreme Court refused to lift the stay last night.

The state supreme court has decided to hear arguments in January on claims by Nunley’s lawyer that Nunley should not be under a death sentence because a jury did not recommend it. Nunley pleaded guilty and accepted sentencing without a jury in 1991 for the kidnap, rape, and murder of a Kansas City girl two years earlier. Since then, rulings in other states have held that judges cannot sentence people to death without a jury recommendation. [Missourinet]

Roderick Nunley was sentenced to death by a judge for the 1989 kidnapping, rape and murder of teenager Ann Harris in Kansas City. The death sentence was to be carried out at 12:01 a.m. Oct. 20. However, the Missouri and U.S. Surpeme courts have ruled that only a full jury can hand down a death sentence, not a judge.

“It has been more than 20 years since the brutal murder of a 15-year-old Kansas City girl,” Attorney General Chris Koster said late Tuesday night. “My office will make every effort to see that justice is carried out for this young victim and her family.

The death warrant against Roderick Nunley extends over a 24-hour period, until midnight Wednesday [Oct. 21] night. Litigation in this matter is proceeding even now and will continue until every option is exhausted.”

Koster says Nunley asked for a judge to sentence him, not a jury, in 1991.

Department of Corrections spokesman Mike O’Connell said late last night that the prison in Bonne Terre — where executions take place by lethal injection — would resume normal operations until the next part of the legal process happens. The lockdown was lifted but Nunley remains kept in a holding cell next to the execution chamber.

Nunley expressed remorse for his crime, apologizing to Harris’ family, on a radio interview Tuesday. His accomplice, Michael A. Taylor, remains on death row. A date has not been set for his execution.

Story by Missourinet’s Jessica Machetta

State prison inmate Roderick Nunley has been granted a stay from his midnight execution that was scheduled for Tuesday night.

The Kansas City Star reports that Chief U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan granted the stay, as Nunley’s lawyers asked for consideration as to whether Nunley is entitled to by sentenced by a jury rather than a judge.

Nunley was to be executed tomorrow night for kidnapping, raping, and killing a 15-year-old Kansas City girl more than 21 years ago. Nunley does not deny kidnapping Ann Harrison but he does deny raping her. He tells the Kansas City Star his accomplice, Michael A. Taylor, raped her. Both later stabbed her multiple times.

Taylor also escaped execution more than four years ago when last-minute court appeals produced stays. He is still under a death sentence, but no execution date has been set. [Story by Missourinet]

From story by Monica Davey, New York Times:

When judges in St. Louis sentence criminals, a new and unusual variable is available for them to consider: what a given punishment will cost the state of Missouri.

For someone convicted of endangering the welfare of a child, for instance, a judge might learn that a three-year prison sentence would run more than $37,000 while probation would cost $6,770. A second-degree robber, a judge could be told, would carry a price tag of less than $9,000 for five years of intensive probation, but more than $50,000 for a comparable prison sentence. The bill for a murderer’s 30-year prison term: $504,690.

Months ago, members of the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission, a group of lawyers, judges and others established by state lawmakers years ago, voted to begin providing judges with the cost information on individual cases.

The concept is simple: Fill in an offender’s conviction code, criminal history and other background, and the program spits out a range of possible sentences, statistical information about the likelihood of Missouri criminals with similar profiles to commit more crimes, and, most controversially, the various options’ price tags.