766 S.W. 2d 91 (Mo. Banc 1986)

Robert Earl O’Neal was executed on December 6, 1995

Case Facts:  On February 2, 1984 inmates from the Special Management Unit at the Jefferson City Correctional Center in Jefferson City, Missouri were released to lunch. During the inmate movement, correction officers observed inmate Rodney Stewart approach inmate Arthur Dade. Stewart was carrying an ice cream container such as those purchased in the inmate commissary. Stewart threw a liquid contained in the ice cream carton into Dade’s face. As Dade shielded his eyes from the liquid, inmate Lloyd Schlup approached Dade from behind and grabbed Dade’s hands. While Schlup was holding Dade, inmate Robert Earl O’Neal ran forward and stabbed Dade with an ice pick type weapon four times in the chest penetrating his hearting and lungs.

As correctional officers pulled Stewart off Dade, O’Neal ran to a nearby window, broke the window pane and threw the weapon out the window. O’Neal then went to a nearby sink where he washed blood off his hands and arms. Dade ran a short distance from the scene where he collapsed and died. Before O’Neal’s arrest, correctional officers found blood stained clothing in a bathroom marked with O’Neal’s prison issued numbers. Blood stains were also found on O’Neal’s clothing, the broken window and the sink where O’Neal washed his hands. When arrested, O’Neal was observed to have a severe laceration to the hand he used to stab Dade.

Legal Chronology

1980
02/22 – O’Neal was convicted of Murder I and Armed Criminal Action in Springfield, Missouri and sentenced to life and 15 years consecutive in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

1981
09/10 – O’ Neal was convicted of Offering Violence to a Correctional Officer in Jefferson City, Missouri and sentenced to five years concurrent in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

1983
06/21 – O’Neal was convicted of Offering Violence to an Officer of a Correctional Institution in Jefferson City, Missouri and sentenced to seven years concurrent in the Missouri Department of corrections.
06/27 – O’Neal was convicted of Assault I in Jefferson City, Missouri and sentenced to seven years concurrent in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

1984
2/3 – Robert O’Neal, assisted by two inmate accomplices, murdered fellow prison inmate Arthur Dade by stabbing him in the chest with an ice pick type weapon.
2/7 – An indictment is filed in the Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri charging Robert O’Neal and his two accomplices with the capital murder of Arthur Dade.

1985
3/20-22 – Robert O’Neal is tried and convicted by a jury in Butler County of the Capital murder of Arthur Dade on change of venue from Cole County. The jury recommended a sentence of death.
5/14 – The Circuit Court of Cole County denied O’Neal’s motion for a new trial and sentenced him to death.
5/22 – A Notice of appeal is filed with the Missouri Supreme Court.

1986
10/14 – The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed O’Neal’s conviction and sentence on direct appeal.

1987
3/9 – The United States Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari.
4/16 – O’Neal filed a Rule 27.26 motion seeking post-conviction relief in the Circuit Court of Butler County, Missouri.
8/24 – O’Neal filed an amended Rule 27.26 motion through counsel.
9/1 – O’Neal filed an addendum to the amended Rule 27.26 motion.

1988
3/17 – The Circuit Court of Butler County denied the Rule 27.26 motion.

1989
2/14 – The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed the denial of the Rule 27.26 motion.
10/2 – The United States Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari.
10/6 – Robert O’Neal filed a pro se petition for the writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

1990
2/15 – Robert O’Neal filed an amended federal habeas corpus petition through counsel.
11/29 – Federal habeas petition is ordered held in abeyance to allow petitioner to pursue a state habeas corpus petition.
12/10 – Robert O’Neal filed state habeas corpus petition.

1991
3/5 – The Missouri Supreme Court denied the state’s habeas corpus petition.
4/15 – Robert O’Neal filed a motion to recall the mandate in the Missouri Supreme Court.
4/30 – The Missouri Supreme Court denied the motion to recall the man date.

1992
9/28 – United States Magistrate Judge recommended that the United States District Court deny the petition for the writ of habeas corpus.
11/20 – The United State District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri denied the petition for thewrit of habeas corpus.
12/4 – Motion to Alter or Amend Judgment denied.

1993
1/9 – Notice of Appeal filed.

1995
1/6 – The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed.
10/2 – Certiorari denied by the United States Supreme Court.
10/27 – Missouri Supreme Court sets O’Neal’s execution date for December 6, 1995.