"I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
- Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian
"There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
- Rev. Richard Hawke
“There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
- Rowan Atkinson
"I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
- Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian
"There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
- Rev. Richard Hawke
“There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
- Rowan Atkinson
Mo. DOC says lethal injection began at 10:15 p.m CDT...Cole was pronounced dead at 10:24 p.m. #deathpenalty
https://twitter.com/MarshallGReport/...82381007413249
"I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
- Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian
"There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
- Rev. Richard Hawke
“There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
- Rowan Atkinson
Andre Cole execution goes ahead after US supreme court dismisses appeal
A Missouri inmate has been executed after the US supreme court turned down a last-minute appeal.
Andre Cole, convicted of stabbing a man to death and severely injuring a woman in 1998, was put to death Tuesday night at the state prison in Bonne Terre. He became the third convicted killer executed in Missouri this year.
Attorneys for Cole, 52, had appealed to the nation’s highest court after a federal appeals court earlier on Tuesday ruled that the execution could go forward, finding that the man was given his legal due process to argue about his mental health.
Cole’s attorneys argued that their client was mentally unfit to be executed and should be allowed a competency hearing.
“He hears voices over the TV, over the prison intercom, everywhere,” Cole’s attorney Joseph Luby told the Associated Press. He said Cole believed that Missouri governor Jay Nixon, prosecutors and others “are giving him messages about his case”.
Cole was convicted in the killing of a man over child support payments in St. Louis County. The execution had been scheduled for 6pm Tuesday but was delayed by the appeals.
Nixon declined to stop the execution, saying in a statement on Tuesday night that he had denied Cole’s request for clemency.
A three-judge panel of the 8th US circuit court of appeals earlier Tuesday ruled 2-1 in favor of Missouri officials in Cole’s case. That came after US district judge Catherine Perry put the execution on hold, saying Cole should not be put to death.
The Missouri attorney general’s office quickly appealed Perry’s ruling to the 8th circuit, arguing there was no legal reason for the judge to overturn a Missouri supreme court ruling that allowed the execution to proceed.
In overturning Perry’s ruling, the appeals court found that Cole and his lawyers had been given ample opportunity to argue that he was not mentally fit to be executed, but failed to convince the state supreme court.
Defense attorneys immediately appealed to the US supreme court.
Cole’s attorneys earlier had asked the high court to stop the execution based in part on concerns over Missouri’s execution drug, which was purchased from a compounding pharmacy that the state refuses to identify.
Several outside groups, including the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union, urged Nixon to stop the execution and appoint a board to examine concerns that there was racial bias in Missouri’s jury selection process. Cole, who is black, was convicted and sentenced by an all-white jury.
“The criminal justice system in this country is unfair,” said Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU in St Louis. “It targets persons of color. It treats the African-American community differently.”
Cole’s brother said the crime was out of character and did not merit the death penalty. “It was a one-time thing,” said DeAngelo Cole, 38, of Las Vegas. “He didn’t have a history of that kind of behavior.”
Andre Cole and his wife, Terri, divorced in 1995. The couple had two children and fought about visitation. Evidence showed that Andre Cole was upset that the government had ordered $3,000 in unpaid child support to be taken from his wages over the course of several paychecks.
The first deduction appeared on his paycheck dated 21 August 1998. Hours later, Cole forced his way into his ex-wife’s home and was confronted by Anthony Curtis, who was visiting. Andre Cole stabbed Curtis and Terri Cole repeatedly. Curtis died, while Terri Cole survived.
Andre Cole fled the state but surrendered 33 days later. He claimed at trial that he did not bring a weapon into Terri Cole’s house and that Curtis initiated the attack with a knife.
St Louis County prosecutors removed three black potential jurors from the pool of candidates, according to Cole’s supporters. Mittman said one black man was removed because he was divorced, but a white juror was not removed even though he was paying child support.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...souri-go-ahead
Missouri executes inmate after last-minute appeals rejected
BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri inmate has been executed for killing a man in a fit of rage over child support payments 16 years ago.
Andre Cole, 52, on Tuesday night became the third convicted killer put to death this year in Missouri. His fate was sealed after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down several appeals, including one claiming Cole was mentally ill and unfit for execution.
Also Tuesday, Gov. Jay Nixon refused a clemency petition that raised concerns about the fact that Cole, who was black, was convicted and sentenced by an all-white jury.
Mike O'Connell, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections, said Cole was executed by lethal injection at 10:15 p.m. and pronounced dead nine minutes later.
In the execution chamber, Cole nodded as relatives blew kisses his way. He chose not to make a final statement. He breathed deeply a few times as the drug was administered.
Cole declined any sedatives prior to the execution. He also declined to order a last meal and instead received the day's inmate tray, O'Connell said.
Attorney General Chris Koster said in a statement he hoped "that the sentence carried out tonight brings those forever impacted by this tragedy a sense of justice and a measure of closure."
Cole and his wife, Terri, were married for 11 years and had two children before divorcing in 1995. The couple fought about visitation and he was upset about child support payments, authorities said.
By 1998, Cole was $3,000 behind in child support. Koster said Cole became angry when he learned that a payroll withholding order was issued to his employer, taking the money out of his check.
"Before I give her another dime, I'll kill (her)," Cole told co-workers, according to Koster.
The first deduction appeared on his Aug. 21, 1998, paycheck. Hours later, Cole forced his way into his ex-wife's home by throwing a tire jack through a glass door, Koster said. He was confronted by Anthony Curtis, a friend who was visiting.
Andre Cole used a kitchen knife to repeatedly stab Curtis, then Terri Cole. Curtis died but Terri Cole survived.
Cole fled the state but surrendered 33 days later. He claimed at trial that he did not bring a weapon into Terri Cole's house and that Curtis initiated the attack with a knife.
No relatives of Terri Cole or Anthony Curtis attended the execution.
Andre Cole's brother, DeAngelo Cole, 38, of Las Vegas, said the attack was out of character for his sibling. He called it a crime of passion.
"It was a one-time thing," DeAngelo Cole said. "He didn't have a history of that kind of behavior."
Cole's attorney, Joseph Luby, said Cole's mental health deteriorated during the more than a decade he spent in prison. He said Cole was plagued by psychosis and constantly heard voices in his head.
The courts were not convinced.
Both the Missouri Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to halt the execution based on mental health concerns. The U.S. Supreme Court also turned away appeals based on Missouri's secretive method of obtaining the execution drug pentobarbital and over how instructions were given to the jury.
The jury itself was the source of the clemency request to Nixon. Advocates for Cole, including the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union and others, said his case was among many in which St. Louis County prosecutors unfairly prohibited black jurors from hearing a death penalty case involving a black suspect.
All 12 jurors in Cole's case were white. Kimber Edwards, who was scheduled for execution in May, was also convicted and sentenced by an all-white jury. The Missouri Supreme Court, without explanation, canceled the execution orders for Edwards earlier this month.
Missouri tied Texas for the most executions in 2014 with 10. Missouri has now executed 15 men since November 2013.
http://www.ccenterdispatch.com/news/...649c0fdb9.html
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