Missouri schedules July 30 execution

Missouri schedules July 30 execution


A northern Missouri methamphetamine dealer is set to be the state's 1st inmate put to death since October 2005.

The Missouri Supreme Court today set a July 30 execution date for John C. Middleton, who was convicted of killing 2 people in Mercer County in 1995.

Middleton, now 48, also was convicted in a separate case of killing a 3rd person. He also received a death sentence in that case.

Prosecutors said Middleton killed the 3 to keep them from telling police about his methamphetamine operation.

Missouri has not executed an inmate since October 2005 when Marlin Gray was put to death.

Executions in the state and across the country had been put on hold while inmates raised legal questions about the constitutionality of the lethal injection method used in Missouri and most other capital punishment states.

But since April when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Kentucky's lethal injection protocol, states have once again begun carrying out death sentences.

9 men have been put to death since that ruling, and 7 other executions are scheduled to die before Middleton, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Middleton is housed at the Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point. He will be transported to the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, where the state's execution chamber is located.

(source: Kansas City Star)