694 S.W.2d 723 (Mo. Banc 1985)

Kelvin Shelby Malone was executed on January 13, 2002

Case Facts:  On March 18, 1981 at around 12:40 a.m. Kelvin Malone arrived in St. Louis, Missouri from Los Angeles, California at the downtown Greyhound Bus station. He had a .25 caliber Raven automatic pistol and a Galesi .25 caliber pistol in his suitcase.

Around the same time, Mr. William Parr, a taxi driver for Yellow Cab, received a call for him to pick up a package at the First National Bank in downtown St. Louis. About four minutes after Parr left for his delivery, a second cab driver, Mr. Richard Eder, passed by the First National Bank building on his way to pick up an order and observed Mr. Parr’s cab parked out with the dome light on. A short distance away Mr. Elder observed an individual with a suitcase attempting to hail a cab. This person was later identified as Kelvin Malone. Mr. Daniel Ward, an employee of the First National Bank, testified that at around 1:00 a.m. as he left the bank building he observed a man with a suitcase sitting in the back seat of Mr. Parr’s cab. Mr. Parr picked up the package shortly after 1:00 a.m., but never arrived at his destination in St. Louis County.

In the early morning hours of March 18, 1981, the body of Mr. William Parr was found at Entrance Park in Berkeley laying face down. Mr. Parr was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound to the head.

Police later discovered an abandoned Yellow Cab in Berkeley a short distance from the home of Michael Crenshaw. Emanual Bego, who lived with the Crenshaw family in Berkeley, said that at around 1:30 a.m. he heard a knock at the door and that when Michael Crenshaw answered the door he greeted the visitor as “Kelvin”. Bego testified that later that day Malone and Crenshaw left the house to return to Los Angeles. Bego also reported that he found a Greyhound Bus ticket at the Crenshaw house later identified as one from Los Angeles to St. Louis dated March 15, 1981.

On March 24, 1981, officers of the San Jose, California Police Department found Kelvin Malone and Michael Crenshaw asleep in a mercury Capri. The two refused to provide identification and then attempted to get away from the officers. A high speed chase followed and the pair was apprehended. Recovered was a .25 caliber Raven pistol and a .25 caliber Galesi pistol and small suitcase.

Ballistics experts in California fired three test shots from the Galesi and mailed the projectiles to the Berkeley Police Department. The projectiles and a bullet taken from murder victim William Parr were identified by a Federal Bureau of Investigations firearm expert as being fired from the same Galesi .25 caliber pistol.

Legal Chronology

1980
01/24 — Malone was sentenced in St. Louis County to the Missouri Department of Corrections for seven years on the charge of Robbery First Degree.

1981
3/18 – Mr. William Parr, a 62 year old cab driver, is shot and killed in Berkeley, Missouri.
3/24 – Kelvin Malone is arrested in San Jose, California.

1983
7/1 – Malone was charged with Capital Murder in St. Louis County Circuit Court for the killing of Mr. Parr.

1984
3/30 – Malone’s jury trial begins in St. Louis County and he is found guilty. The jury recommends the death penalty.
4/26 – Malone was sentenced to death for Mr. Parr’s murder.

1985
8/7 – the Missouri State Supreme Court affirmed Malone’s conviction and sentence.

1990
10/16 – The Missouri Supreme court affirmed the denial of Malone’s post-conviction motion.

1991
5/24 – Malone filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The District court granted a stay of execution.

1995
12/4 – The district court denied Malone’s federal habeas petition.

1998
2/26 – The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court’s denial of Malone’s federal habeas petition.
5/11 – The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Malone’s petition for a rehearing.
5/20 – The Eighth Circuit court of Appeals issued its mandate.
10/19 – The U.S. Supreme Court denied Malone’s petition for writ of certiorari. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office field a motion to set an execution date in the Missouri Supreme Court.
10/28 – The Missouri Supreme Court set Malone’s execution for January 13, 1999.