Where a defendant sentenced to death in a first-degree murder case challenged the denial of post-conviction relief, the defendant’s trial counsel made reasonable strategic decisions, and there was no abandonment by post-conviction counsel, so the denial of relief is affirmed ...

Tagged with: Abandonment Death Sentence Post-Conviction Relief

Where a defendant convicted of first-degree murder after a joint trial with a co-defendant challenged his death sentence, including the aggravating and mitigating factors considered by the jury and the instructions received, the defendant did not show that the district ...

Tagged with: Death Sentence First-Degree Murder jury instructions

Fewer than 30 people were executed in the United States and under 50 new death sentences were imposed for the fifth straight year, part of a continuing decline in capital punishment that saw only a few states carry out executions, ...

Tagged with: death penalty Death Sentence execution rate executions

Fewer than 30 people were executed in the United States and under 50 new death sentences were imposed for the fifth straight year, part of a continuing decline in capital punishment that saw only a few states carry out executions, ...

Tagged with: death penalty Death Sentence execution rate executions

On the same day the U.S. Department of Justice announced it planned to resume federal executions for the first time in 16 years, a federal appeals court upheld a Missouri man’s death sentence. On July 25, a three-judge panel of ...

Tagged with: 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Death Sentence Wesley Paul Coonce Jr.

Defendant appealed from the judgment of sentence of death imposed following his conviction for the murder of a fellow inmate at the mental health facility where they were both incarcerated. On appeal, defendant argued that his mental retardation or intellectual ...

Tagged with: Death Sentence murder “Mentally Retarded” Exception

A Missouri law allowing judges to impose a death sentence after a jury deadlocks on punishment does not violate defendants’ Sixth Amendment rights, the Missouri Supreme Court has ruled. In a split ruling July 16, the court upheld the conviction ...

Tagged with: Craig Michael Wood Death Sentence Missouri Supreme Court

The Missouri Supreme Court has set an execution date for a Missouri man whose appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied in April. On June 25, the court issued an execution order for Russell Bucklew ordering him to be ...

Tagged with: Death Sentence Missouri Supreme Court Russell Bucklew

A string of executions over the past year belies a surprising reality: Missouri has sentenced few people to death in the past decade.

Tagged with: death penalty Death Sentence execution

State v. Shockley (MLW No. 65374/Case No. SC90286 – 39 pages) (Supreme Court of Missouri, Stith, J.; all concur)

Tagged with: Character Evidence Criminal Law Death Sentence

Holder v. U.S. (MLW No. 65346/Case No. 10-1304 – 32 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Melloy, J.)

Tagged with: Criminal Law Death Sentence effectiveness of counsel