Missouri Death Row

Gov. Jay Nixon today issued the following statement regarding Richard Clay:

“After an exhaustive review, I am convinced of Richard Clay’s involvement in the senseless murder of Randy Martindale and find that the evidence clearly supports the jury’s verdict of murder in the first degree.

Having looked at this matter in its entirety and after significant thought and counsel, I have concluded, however, to exercise my constitutional authority and commute Richard Clay’s sentence to life without the possibility of parole. Richard Clay’s involvement in this crime is clear, and he must, and will, serve the remainder of his life behind bars for his role in this heinous act.”

The state supreme court has ordered the execution of prison inmate Richard Clay for January 12. Clay was convicted in 1995 of murdering the husband of his friend’s married girlfriend.

Clay was convicted of shooting Randy Martindale of New Madrid four times with a shotgun.

Court records show Martindale’s wife, Stacey, was having an affair with another man and offered him money to kill her husband so she could collect on the husband’s life insurance. But when her lover refused to do it, she persuaded Clay to do it. Stacey Martindale was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

Clay’s lawyer still has avenues of appeal to stop the execution.

Missouri’s last execution was that of Dennis Skillicorn in May, 2009. Skillicorn is the only inmate executed between October, 2005 and now.

October’s scheduled execution of Roderick Nunley was called off because last-day court appeals remained unresolved.

Update: KZIM’s Todd Bonacki interview with former New Madrid County prosecutor Riley Block, who originally prosecuted Clay.

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