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Thread: Richard Strong - Missouri Execution - June 9, 2015

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    Richard Strong - Missouri Execution - June 9, 2015


    Eva Washington (left) and her daughter Zandrea Thomas (right) were stabbed at an apartment in the St Louis suburb of St Ann in 2000. The little girl was only two years old.




    Summary of Offense:

    St. Ann police received a 911 call on October 23, 2000, at 3:30 p.m. The call was immediately disconnected. The dispatcher replayed the call and heard a scream. The dispatcher tried to redial the number repeatedly until officers arrived at the source of the call approximately two minutes later. The call originated from the apartment where Eva Washington lived with her two daughters. The older daughter, Zandrea Thomas, was two years old. Strong is the father of the other girl, who was three months old.

    When officers arrived at the apartment and knocked, initially there was no answer at the front or back door. They continued to knock and shouted, and Strong eventually came to the back door. Upon inquiries by the police, Strong initially told them Eva and the kids were sleeping. Strong meanwhile stepped outside and closed the door behind him. The police again asked about Eva, and Strong told them she had gone to work. Because this was an inconsistent response, the police asked about the children, and Strong told them the kids were inside. The officers asked if they could check on the children, and Strong told them he had locked himself out. Strong knocked on the door and called for someone to open it.

    Officers noted that Strong was sweating profusely, had dark stains on the knees of his jeans, and had blood on his left hand. They ordered Strong to step aside and kicked in the door. Strong ran. When the officers chased him, Strong told them, "Just shoot me; just shoot me." After he was handcuffed, he told the officers, "I killed them."

    Inside the apartment, police found the dead bodies of Eva and Zandrea in a back bedroom. They had been stabbed repeatedly with a knife. On the bed, one of the officers found a large butcher knife and a three-month-old baby sitting next to a pool of blood. An autopsy revealed that Eva had been stabbed 21 times, with five slash wounds, and the tip of the knife used to stab her was embedded in her skull. The autopsy of two-year-old Zandrea showed she had been stabbed nine times and had 12 slash wounds.

    Strong was charged with both murders. After a trial in St. Louis County, a jury returned a guilty verdict. At the penalty phase trial, the jury found the existence of two statutory aggravators for each murder and recommended a death sentence for Strong. The trial court sentenced Strong accordingly.

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On December 11, 2008, Strong filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/mis...cv01917/96730/

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    On September 21, 2011, Strong filed an appeal in the US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals over the denial of his habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/cir...s/ca8/11-3046/

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    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    How long you think till that gets denied and he gets a date with the chamber?

    There's got be MO MO executions in MO!

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    The Eighth Circuit should take no longer than two years to decide a case. However, the problem in Missouri is the apparent reluctance of the Missouri Supreme Court to set execution dates once all conceivable appeals have been exhausted.

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    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    Where do you get that idea? They never used to have a problem with it and the state congress is over 90% republican so the judges must be overwhelmingly republican as well.

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    You'll see that at least 15 Missouri inmates have exhausted their appeals and there are no execution dates currently set: http://www.cncpunishment.com/forums/...issouri+status

    On top of that, Missouri Attorneys General have filed repeated requests for execution dates for these inmates over the past few years, but very few have been set. The Missouri Supreme Court has not yet deigned to offer an explanation for its reticence.

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    But they have to uphold the LAW! Can't the attorney general circumvent them and appeal to the SC to get dates set or take some other action?

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    I don't imagine that the Missouri Supreme Court can be circumvented by the Attorney General. Plus, as I wrote before, various Attorneys General have repeatedly appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court to set dates for all the inmates whose appeals have been exhausted. Clearly, those appeals have fallen on deaf ears. It seems to me that a legislative fix is in order, perhaps delegating the setting of execution dates to lower-court judges. Such a system seems to work well in places like Texas and Virginia. It appears that leaving the setting of execution dates to anyone else causes problems--witness the situation in Florida where this duty falls on the Governor's shoulders.

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    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    But you know the Missouri Congress and judicial system is overwhelmingly republican so these judges must mostly all be republican! So WHY do you think they are stalling on setting dates when they are from the pro DP party?? Can the governor of Missouri set execution dates?

    I've called the Supreme Court clerk in the past when an execution was pending. I'll call them again one day. I'll even post the number and anyone can call!

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