Court clears way for Tuesday execution of Missouri man who claims innocence in murder

A federal court of appeals has vacated the stay of execution for Walter Barton, clearing the way for Missouri to put him to death Tuesday for a 1991 murder he says he did not commit.

Barton, now 64, is set to die by injection. He was convicted of first-degree murder in the Oct. 9, 1991, killing of 81-year-old Gladys Kuehler, who was stabbed more than 50 times at a mobile home park she managed in Ozark, Mo., south of Springfield.

Last week, Barton’s attorneys filed a motion raising concerns about the evidence used to convict him. That included testimony from a bloodstain-pattern analyst. They also argued Barton could not be executed because he had suffered a brain injury and was incompetent.

Judge Brian Wimes stayed the execution Friday, saying he needed more time to review claims raised by Barton’s lawyers. The Missouri attorney general’s office appealed, arguing in part that Barton presented no new evidence.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit agreed Sunday and vacated Wimes’ order.

Frederick Duchardt Jr., one of Barton’s attorneys, said he plans to petition for a stay with the U.S. Supreme Court based on mistakes his defense team thinks the Eighth Circuit made.

“They’re still about to execute an innocent man,” Duchardt said. “Hopefully somebody is going to see that and stop this travesty.”

Duchardt disagreed that Barton had no new evidence. He pointed to three of the 12 Cass County jurors who convicted Barton. They recently said findings that contradicted the state’s bloodstain-pattern analyst would have influenced their consideration of his guilt.

The conclusions would have made one uncomfortable recommending the death penalty, he wrote on his affidavit.

A fourth juror has since come forward with similar concerns, Duchardt told The Star. The juror now lives out of state, so Barton’s defense team is making arrangements to get a signed affidavit from that person.

Barton went on trial five times from 1993 to 2006, a rarity in death penalty cases.

Several groups have called on Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to halt Barton’s execution.

Parson’s office has indicated the execution will go on as scheduled.

The Innocence Project is among the organizations urging Parson to appoint a board of inquiry to review Barton’s conviction. It’s something former Gov. Eric Greitens did in 2017 to look into the innocence claim of Marcellus Williams, who was convicted in a 1998 fatal stabbing. He was set to be executed hours before Greitens stopped it.

In a letter Friday to Parson, the Innocence Project, along with the Midwest Innocence Project and the MacArthur Justice Center, said Barton’s conviction relied on two of the leading causes of wrongful convictions: dubious blood spatter evidence and an incentivized jailhouse informant.

“The Governor has the power to grant Mr. Barton a reprieve and the hearing he deserves,” the groups wrote. “Failing his exercise of that power, Missouri will execute an (innocent) man on May 19.”

If Barton is executed Tuesday, he will be the first person executed in the United States since the coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic.

Source: kansascity.com, Staff, May 18, 2020

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Comments

Alabama executes Jeremy Williams

Tennessee and Oklahoma have put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men in one day. Tennessee and Oklahoma put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other Thursday, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men by lethal injection in one day for the first time since 2010. The Tennessee man was executed for killing a maid at a motel in 1985, and the Oklahoma man for killing his girlfriend in 2003. In Alabama, a man was put to death Thursday evening for killing a 5-year-old girl he had paid her mother to abuse.

Tennessee executes Darrell Hines

The state has spent millions of dollars over decades to execute a seriously ill man who was already incarcerated. The state of Tennessee executed death row inmate Darrell Hines Thursday morning, according to an advocacy group. No formal announcement of the execution has been issued by state leaders yet. The execution was slated for 10 a.m. Thursday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. [DPN update] Hines was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CDT. His last meal was fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, corn, fries, biscuits, a chicken sandwich, chocolate chip cake, and sweet tea.

Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument. Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said.

Tennessee set to execute Anthony Darrell Hines

Barring any last-minute interventions, the Tennessee Department of Correction will execute Anthony Darrell Hines by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville Thursday morning. This week, two courts had the opportunity to halt the execution: the federal court in Middle Tennessee and the U.S. Supreme Court. Gov. Bill Lee announced Tuesday he personally would not prevent the execution. “After deliberate consideration of Anthony Darrell Hines’ request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene,” he said in a written statement. The U.S. Supreme Court has not granted a stay or reprieve.

Tennessee | The doctor who helps put prisoners to death

Dr. Mark Fowler assisted in the failed execution of a Tennessee prisoner. Physicians are meant to heal patients—why is he working in the death chamber? Mark Fowler, a physician with 25 years’ experience, stepped beneath the bright lights and approached the middle-aged man lying on a gurney. Around him, people in medical gowns prepared needles and sterile tubing. It had all the appearances of a hospital setting. Fowler had been called in to help establish an IV line through which the 57-year-old man, Tony Carruthers, would be injected with pharmaceutical drugs. The team had struggled to find a vein, so Fowler was summoned to set a central line—an intravenous catheter inserted into the major vein below the collarbone.

Alabama Set To Carry Out Execution This Week

Alabama is preparing to execute Jeremy Williams, who pled guilty to the 2021 rape and murder of five-year-old Kamarie Holland. The execution is scheduled for Thursday (August 13) at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. Williams, who is 41, requested the death penalty and waived his right to appeal, making this the first execution in Alabama this year.

The 'Black Widow' shakes Iran: 10 death sentences for a serial killer who killed 12 men

Kolthum Akbari, an Iranian woman widely dubbed the “Black Widow,” was convicted of serial murders of elderly men she married, often temporarily. Official accounts generally center on 11 murders (plus one attempted murder), though Akbari herself gave varying figures and investigations suggested she had many more marriages. The sentencing occurred primarily in September 2025 in Mazandaran Province, with ongoing reporting and updates into 2026. The 56- to 59-year-old killer confessed to killing at least 11 elderly men after temporarily or officially marrying them; Iranian authorities have linked her to additional marriages and possible further victims.

Israel builds execution chamber for Palestinians convicted of murder

In March, the Knesset approved legislation that calls for the execution of Palestinians convicted by a military court of killing Israelis Israeli authorities are preparing a prison wing—replete with an execution chamber—designated specifically for Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, Israel’s i24NEWS channel reported Tuesday. The move comes after the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved legislation in March that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted by a military court of murdering Israelis.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issues three death penalty reprieves

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued execution reprieves for three death row inmates on Friday. In a statement, DeWine said he issued reprieves for Keith LaMar, Scott Group, and Davel Chinn, all of whom were set to be executed early next year. LaMar was scheduled to be executed on Jan. 13, 2027. He was convicted of aggravated murder for the deaths of five inmates during a 1993 riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville. He received the death penalty for four of the killings. His new execution date is Jan. 13, 2030. Watch the latest NBC4 headlines in the video player above.

Arizona prosecutors seek death penalty a second time for 2 inmates

County Attorney Brad Miller said Aug. 6 that the nature of the attack and both men's past criminal records meet the strict legal bar required for execution under Arizona law. FLORENCE, Ariz. - Pinal County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against two inmates accused of violently killing a fellow prisoner behind bars, officials announced Thursday. Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller filed a Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty against Pete Van Winkle and Tracy Hampton in connection with the fatal attack on Kenneth Thompson.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog