[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MISSOURI

[Rick Halperin]

March 20



MISSOURI----stay of execution

Missouri inmate Bucklew receives reprieve before execution


The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a stay of execution for a Missouri inmate 
who argued that a medical condition could result in the process causing him 
undue suffering.

Russell Bucklew was scheduled to die by injection Tuesday evening for killing a 
former girlfriend’s new boyfriend during a violent rampage in 1996.

In a statement, the Supreme Court said it granted the stay in the execution. 
But the court says that 4 justices — John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel 
Alito, and Neil Gorsuch — would have allowed the execution to go ahead.

It is the 2nd time that the nation’s highest court has halted the execution of 
Bucklew over concerns about his rare medical condition, cavernous hemangioma. 
The ailment causes weakened and malformed blood vessels, tumors in his head and 
throat and on his lip, and vein problems. His execution was stopped in 2014.

Bucklew, 49, was within an hour of execution in May 2014 when the U.S. Supreme 
Court halted it over concerns about Bucklew’s rare medical condition, cavernous 
hemangioma. The ailment causes weakened and malformed blood vessels, tumors in 
his head and throat and on his lip, and vein problems.

His attorney, Cheryl Pilate, had asked the Supreme Court to intervene, claiming 
Bucklew’s condition had gotten worse.

The tumor on Bucklew’s lip has grown substantially since 2014 and is now the 
size of a grape, Pilate said. She believes the internal tumors have grown, too, 
and will likely rupture and bleed during the execution, potentially causing 
Bucklew “to choke and cough on his own blood during the lethal injection 
process.”

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley disagrees, writing in his filing to the 
Supreme Court that the growth in Bucklew’s mouth shrunk 10 percent between 2010 
and 2016.

The condition also compromises his veins, and Pilate said the fatal injection 
couldn’t be administered in a typical way through an arm vein. Hawley wrote 
that the lethal dose of pentobarbital could be administered through a leg or 
other vein instead of the arm.

Pilate also has asked for clemency from Republican Gov. Eric Greitens. A 
spokesman for the governor declined to comment.

Bucklew’s appeals have suggested that if the execution is carried out, the 
state should use lethal gas instead of an injection of pentobarbital. Missouri 
law still provides for the option of lethal gas, but the state no longer has a 
gas chamber and has not used the method since 1965.

None of the 20 inmates executed since Missouri began using pentobarbital in 
2013 have shown obvious signs of pain or suffering.

Bucklew became angry when his girlfriend, Stephanie Ray, ended their 
relationship in 1996. Hawley said in court filings that Bucklew slashed Ray’s 
face with a knife, beat her and threatened to kill her. She took her children 
and left.

Over the next 2 weeks, Bucklew stalked Ray, even as he stole a car, firearms, 2 
sets of handcuffs and duct tape. He eventually found out where she was staying 
and broke into the southeastern Missouri trailer home of Michael Sanders, Ray’s 
new boyfriend, fatally shooting him. When Sanders’ 6-year-old son came out of 
hiding, Bucklew shot at the boy and missed.

Bucklew pistol-whipped Ray, put her in handcuffs and dragged her to his car, 
where he raped her.

Police pursued Bucklew — a chase ending in a gunfight that wounded an officer. 
Once in jail, Bucklew managed to escape and went to the home of Ray’s mother, 
where he attacked her with a hammer before he was finally captured.

Some civil rights organizations have joined in asking that Bucklew be allowed 
to live out his life in prison. In a letter last week to the Inter-American 
Commission on Human Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote that 
executing Bucklew “would be egregious, torturous, and in violation of the U.S. 
and international law prohibiting torture, cruel, inhumane or degrading 
treatment or punishment.”

(source: Associated Press)