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

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