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Thread: Kenneth Baumruk - Missouri

  1. #1
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    Kenneth Baumruk - Missouri




    Summary of Offense:

    Convicted of killing his wife and wounding four others during a 1992 shooting spree inside the St. Louis County courthouse. The shooting occurred on May 5, 1992. Baumruk and his wife, Mary, were about to begin a divorce hearing. Court documents showed he reached into a briefcase and pulled out two .38-caliber handguns and shot his wife in the neck. He then shot her attorney in the chest and his own attorney in the chest, arm and neck as the attorney tried to run.

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    March 31, 2009

    Missouri Supreme Court upholds Baumruk ruling

    BY JIM SALTER
    The Associated Press

    ST. LOUIS — The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously upheld both the first-degree murder conviction and the death sentence for Kenneth Baumruk, convicted of killing his wife and wounding four others during a 1992 shooting spree inside the St. Louis County courthouse.

    It wasn't known if Baumruk would appeal. Calls to his attorney, public defender Rosemary Percival, and to Daniel McPherson, the prosecutor from the Missouri Attorney General's office, were not returned.

    Baumruk, who turns 70 on April 13, is the oldest man condemned to die in Missouri.

    In his appeal, Baumruk alleged the trial court erred in eight ways, including finding him competent to stand trial and allowing a biased jury to hear the case.

    The shooting occurred on May 5, 1992. Baumruk and his wife, Mary, were about to begin a divorce hearing. Court documents showed he reached into a briefcase and pulled out two .38-caliber handguns and shot his wife in the neck. He then shot her attorney in the chest and his own attorney in the chest, arm and neck as the attorney tried to run.

    Baumruk walked around a table and put the gun to his wife's head, killing her. When the judge ran through the door behind his bench, Baumruk chased him.

    As Baumruk pursued the judge through a hallway he shot a bailiff in the shoulder. Baumruk continued through the courthouse, shooting at police and shooting at and wounding a security officer. Police returned fire, hitting Baumruk nine times, including twice in the head.

    All told, Baumruk shot at eight people before he was subdued.

    Baumruk was initially ruled incompetent to stand trial, due in part to the head injuries from the shooting. He was later ruled competent and was convicted and sentenced to death in 2001. The Missouri Supreme Court threw out the verdict, saying the case should not have been heard in the same courthouse where the shooting occurred.

    After more competency hearings, the case was allowed to proceed and moved to neighboring St. Charles County. Baumruk was again convicted and sentenced to death. During that trial, defense attorneys tried to show that Baumruk wasn't mentally fit to be executed because he suffered from "delusional disorder" and couldn't appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions.

    In the ruling on Tuesday, Supreme Court Judge Patricia Breckenridge wrote there was strong evidence that Baumruk deliberated before killing his wife — he had told co-workers and friends he should shoot her and the attorneys. Breckenridge wrote that Baumruk made detailed plans for the shooting spree, even picked out guns he felt were easy to use and unlikely to jam.

    "In light of these circumstances, the imposition of the death penalty was not excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases," the judge wrote.

    http://www.columbiamissourian.com/st...aumruk-ruling/

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    May 6, 2009

    Execution date set for St. Louis County Courthouse shooter

    JEFFERSON CITY — An execution date is scheduled for a man convicted in a 1992 shooting rampage at the St. Louis County Courthouse.

    The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday set an execution date of Aug. 7 for Kenneth Baumruk.

    The court routinely sets execution dates after rejecting a convicted killer's initial appeal. But such dates are typically postponed because of subsequent appeals.

    Baumruk was waiting for divorce proceedings when he pulled out two .38-caliber handguns and started shooting. He killed his wife and wounded four other people, including a security officer.

    Police shot Baumruk nine times, including twice in the head. He initially was ruled incompetent for trial partly because of the head injuries.

    At 70, Baumruk is the oldest man currently under a death sentence in Missouri.

    http://molawyersmedia.com/blog/2009/...nneth-baumruk/

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    Inmate Personal Information

    DOB: 04/13/39
    Race: White
    Gender: Male


    Crime and Trial Information

    * County of conviction: St. Louis
    * Number of counts: One
    * Race of Victim: White
    * Gender of Victim: Female
    * Date of crime: 05/05/1992
    * Date of Sentencing: 06/18/2001


    Legal Status

    Current Proceedings:
    Rule 29.15 PCR
    Filed: 07/24/2009


    Attorneys

    Jeannie Marie Willibey
    Valerie Sue Leftwich


    Court Opinions

    State v. Baumruk, 85 S.W.3d 644 (Mo. Banc 2002) (remanding for new trial); State v. Baumruk, 2007 WL 7126230 (Mo. Cir. Ct. March 19, 2007); State v. Baumruk, 280 S.W.3d 600 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, 130 S.Ct. 144 (2009).


    Legal Issues

    On appeal after retrial:
    1. whether the Supreme Court would defer to trial court's finding that defendant was competent to stand
    trial;
    2. whether the trial court erred in determining that defendant lacked the ability to voluntarily and
    intelligently elect to represent himself;
    3. whether the trial court abused its discretion in overruling motion to import a jury from another county;
    4. whether defendant's right to impartial jury was infringed upon by restrictions on voir dire questioning;
    5. whether trial court's failure to strike sua sponte a juror who questioned his ability to presume defendant
    innocent was plain error;
    6. whether allowing state's psychiatric expert to rely during rebuttal testimony on statement that

  5. #5
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Oral arguments are scheduled for the 16th of February. You can find the briefs on the link.

    http://www.courts.mo.gov/SUP/index.n...3?OpenDocument

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Mo. Supreme Court lets Baumruk case stand

    The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to overturn the conviction of Kenneth Baumruk, who was sentenced to die for killing his wife and wounding four others in a St. Louis County Courthouse shooting spree nearly 20 years ago.

    The court let stand lower court rulings denying Baumruk's claims of ineffective counsel.

    It wasn't clear if the Missouri attorney general's office would seek an execution date, though appeals to federal courts were likely. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Chris Koster declined comment. Baumruk's attorney, William Swift, did not return a message seeking comment.

    At 73, Baumruk is the oldest man on Missouri's death row.

    Baumruk's case has been in litigation for years. He initially was ruled incompetent for trial partly because of head injuries suffered when he was shot by police. He was eventually found guilty and sentenced to die in 2001, but the case was thrown out. A retrial in 2007 also ended with a guilty verdict and death sentence.

    The May 1992 rampage still resonates at the courthouse in Clayton. Authorities say Baumruk carried two .38 caliber handguns in his briefcase during divorce proceedings, pulled them out and began to shoot.

    He shot his wife first, killing her, then shot and injured her attorney and his own. He shot at the judge but missed. When the judge escaped through a door behind the bench, Baumruk - gun drawn - went into the hallway after him.

    In the hallway, Baumruk shot a bailiff in the shoulder, then fired at two police officers, a prosecutor's office investigator and a security guard. Only the security guard was hit in the hallway.

    Additional police arrived. Baumruk shot at another officer but missed, and police returned fire, striking Baumruk nine times. Two bullets struck him in the head.

    Baumruk was weeks away from execution in 2009, when the Missouri Supreme Court set an execution date. It was postponed due to appeals.

    http://www.bnd.com/2012/04/17/214459...#storylink=cpy
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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  7. #7
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On May 4, 2012, Baumruk filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/mis...v00804/120228/

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    Missouri courthouse killer dies in prison

    MINERAL POINT, Mo. (AP) — A 75-year-old man who was sentenced to death for killing his wife in a 1992 shooting rampage at the St. Louis County Courthouse has died in prison, the Missouri Department of Corrections said Monday.

    Kenneth Baumruk died late Friday at the Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point of apparent natural causes, the agency said. He was the oldest inmate on Missouri's death row.

    Baumruk pulled two handguns from a briefcase and opened fire in the Clayton courthouse on May 5, 1992, killing his wife, Mary, as their divorce hearing was about to begin. He also wounded both of their lawyers, a bailiff and a security guard, and fired at a judge and police officers but missed.

    Police returned fire and struck Baumruk nine times, including twice in the head. Authorities said he had carried the .38-caliber handguns in his luggage on a flight from a Seattle, where he was living.

    Baumruk initially was ruled incompetent for trial partly because of head injuries suffered when he was shot by police. He was eventually found guilty and sentenced to die in 2001, but the case was thrown out by the Missouri Supreme Court.

    A 2007 retrial held ended with Baumruk convicted of first-degree murder and again sentenced to die. The jury ignored pleas from Baumruk's lawyers to find him not guilty by reason of what they called a delusional disorder that left him incapable of appreciating the error of his actions.

    Baumruk was weeks away from execution in 2009, but the lethal injection was postponed by appeals. The state Supreme Court upheld his conviction in 2012, letting stand lower court rulings that denied his claims of ineffective work by his lawyers.

    A new execution date had not been set.

    http://news.yahoo.com/missouri-court...011849353.html

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