{"id":25882,"date":"2024-04-10T03:19:39","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T08:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=25882"},"modified":"2024-04-10T03:19:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T08:19:43","slug":"missouri-death-row-inmate-executed-despite-widespread-calls-for-clemency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=25882","title":{"rendered":"Missouri death row inmate executed despite widespread calls for clemency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Brian Dorsey, convicted of murdering his cousin and her husband, put to death amid efforts by many to have his sentence commuted<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian Dorsey, who was convicted of murdering his cousin and her husband in 2006, was executed in Missouri\u2019s Bonne Terre state prison Tuesday despite an extraordinary effort<\/a> by corrections officials and his appeals judge to have his capital sentence commuted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prison officials confirmed that Dorsey had been put to death by lethal injection. They said he had been pronounced dead at 6.11pm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal avenues for Dorsey\u2019s life to be spared had been closed down Tuesday, first when Missouri<\/a> governor Mike Parson denied a last-minute appeal to stay Dorsey\u2019s execution and then when the US supreme court declined to intervene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dorsey\u2019s clemency petition had been supported by 72 current and former Missouri correctional officers, a former judge of the Missouri supreme court, five of the jurors who sentenced him to death, Republican state legislators, mental health experts, faith leaders, and members of his family, some of whom were related to the victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dorsey, in a final statement handed out prior to the execution, expressed deep sorrow for the killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWords cannot hold the just weight of my guilt and shame,\u201d the written statement said, in part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also had his final meal served to him, which included two bacon double cheeseburgers, two orders of chicken strips, two large orders of fries, and a pizza with sausage, pepperoni, onion, mushrooms and extra cheese, according to the state department of corrections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correctional officers submitted a letter<\/a> asking Parson to commute Dorsey\u2019s death sentence. \u201cGenerally, we believe in the use of capital punishment,\u201d they wrote. \u201cBut we are in agreement that the death penalty is not the appropriate punishment for Brian Dorsey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One officer wrote: \u201cSome inmates never change, no matter how many years they are in. But that\u2019s not Brian … The Brian I have known for years could not hurt anyone. The Brian I know does not deserve to be executed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Parson was not moved to commute Dorsey\u2019s sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pain Dorsey brought to others can never be rectified, but carrying out Dorsey\u2019s sentence according to Missouri law and the Court\u2019s order will deliver justice and provide closure,\u201d he said in a press release<\/a> after denying the appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separately, the US supreme court denied Dorsey\u2019s requests to consider whether he was denied the effective assistance of counsel by his attorneys\u2019 flat-fee compensation \u2013 or whether executing someone who is fully rehabilitated is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the eighth amendment of the US constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of the execution, Dorsey attorney Kirk Henderson described his client as \u201ckind, gentle, hardworking, and humble\u201d \u2013 someone who had \u201cspent every day of the past 18 years trying to make up for the single act of violence he committed, serving the prison community as the staff barber and never getting in even the slightest trouble\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf anyone deserves mercy, it is Brian,\u201d he said, adding that executing Dorsey was \u201ca pointless cruelty, an exercise of the state\u2019s power that serves no legitimate penological purpose\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separately, Dorsey\u2019s cousin Jenni Gerhauser, who was also a cousin of victim Sarah Bonnie, said that she was \u201cdevastated and disheartened\u201d by the failure of legal appeals. Gerhauser said that it was \u201ceasy to see that we as a society have not only failed Brian \u2013 we are failing ourselves\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe death penalty isn\u2019t punishment for the convicted. This evening, Brian will be set free. His punishment will end, and for all of us only guilty of loving him, ours will begin. That is not the life sentence we sought,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly before the execution, a small number of protesters gathered in an area near the prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dorsey shot Bonnie to death alongside her husband Benjamin Bonnie, 28, in their home two days before Christmas 2006. Attorneys for Dorsey have argued that he murdered the Bonnies during a drug-induced psychosis and therefore lacked the intent necessary to be guilty of first-degree murder, which is punishable by death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters of Dorsey had hoped he would be given a sentence of life imprisonment rather than be put to death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dorsey is the first person put to death in Missouri this year after four executions in 2023. Another man, David Hosier, is scheduled for execution 11 June for the killing of a Jefferson City woman in 2009. Nationwide, four men have been executed so far in 2024 \u2013 one each in Alabama, Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theguardian<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian Dorsey, convicted of murdering his cousin and her husband, put to death amid efforts by many to have his sentence commuted Brian Dorsey, who was convicted of murdering his cousin and her husband in 2006, was executed in Missouri\u2019s Bonne Terre state prison Tuesday despite an extraordinary effort by corrections officials and his appeals judge to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":25883,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[5256,27751,27749,27750,26155,1396],"class_list":["post-25882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-appeal","tag-brian-dosey","tag-clemency","tag-death-row","tag-execution","tag-missouri"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25884,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25882\/revisions\/25884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}