748 S.W. 2d 903 (Mo. app. 1988)

Emmitt Foster was executed on May 3, 1995

Case Facts:  On November 20, 1983 in St. Louis County De Ann Keys and her boyfriend Travis Walker were awakened at 2:00 a.m. by a phone call from friends of Walker. A short time later, two men arrived at the residence. Walker went into the living room with them and Keys stayed in the bedroom. One of the men was identified as Michael Phillips and the other was known to Keys as “John Lee.”

Phillips returned to the bedroom and forced Keys at gunpoint to come into the living room and to lie next to Walker on the floor. Keys saw “Lee,” later identified as Emmitt Foster, standing over Walker with a pistol in his hand. Phillips ransacked the apartment. Before the two men left, they shot both Walker and Keys.

Keys later regained consciousness and went outside to seek help. She returned to the apartment and wrote the names Michael Phillips and John Lee on an envelope. When police arrived they found Walker dead on the living room floor and Keys in the bedroom lying on the bed. Police ascertained from Keys that the names on the envelope were those of the perpetrators. Keys survived the attack. “John Lee” was subsequently identified as Emmitt Foster.

Foster was arrested two days later on November 20, 1983 and charged with Capital Murder.

Legal Chronology

1968
08/08 – Foster was sentenced to 18 months in the Federal Youth Correctional Center at Englewood California for Unlawful Possession of U.S. Mail.

1970
10/20 – Foster was sentenced to the Missouri Department of Corrections for two counts of Robbery I by Means of a Dangerous and Deadly Weapon from the City of St. Louis. His sentence was for six years on each count to run concurrently and his sentence was commutated on April 11, 1974.

1975
06/12 – Foster was sentenced to the Missouri Department of Corrections for two counts of Robbery I by Means of a Dangerous and Deadly Weapon from the City of St. Louis. He received a sentence of 15 years on each count to run concurrently and his sentence was commutated on August 12, 1982.

1983
11/20 – Travis Walker was shot to death in St. Louis County.

1984
4/30 – Emmitt Foster was indicted in St. Louis County on the charge of capital murder for the shooting death of Travis Walker.
9/14 – Foster was found guilty of capital murder in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County and the jury recommended a sentence of death.
11/30 – A motion for a new trial was denied and Foster was sentenced to death for killing Travis Walker.
12/10 – A notice of appeal was filed.

1985
11/21 – The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed Foster’s conviction and sentence.

1986
6/9 -The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari.
9/23 – Foster filed a Rule 27.6 motion for post conviction relief in the Circuit Court of St. Charles County.

1987
5/20 – The motion for post conviction relief was denied.

1988
3/29 – The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, affirmed the denial of post conviction relief.
7/1 – Foster filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

1992
10/8 – The petition for writ of habeas corpus was denied.

1993
4/22 – The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the district court’s order and granted the petition for writ of habeas corpus.

1994
2/22 – Rehearing granted by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
11/7 – The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc upheld the district court’s judgment and affirmed Foster’s conviction and sentence.

1995
4/17 – The United States Supreme Court declined review of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeal November 7th decision.
4/18 -The Missouri Supreme Court set May 3, 1995, as Foster’s execution date.