On
this date, May 19, 2020, Walter Barton was executed by lethal injection in
Missouri. He was convicted of the murder of Gladys Kuehler in October 9, 1991.
'They
are executing an innocent man': Last statement of Missouri murderer who was put
to death by lethal injection for beating, sexually assaulting and stabbing a
woman, 81, in 1991
·
Walter Barton, 64, died by lethal injection on
Tuesday for killing Gladys Kuehler
·
It was the first execution since Nathaniel
Woods in Alabama on March 5
·
DNA testing showed that a stain on Barton's
clothing was Kuehler's blood
·
But new testimony, countering blood spatter
evidence from the state, is said to have left some jurors 'uncomfortable' with
the death penalty they recommended
·
In his final statement released prior to his
execution, Barton said: 'I, Walter 'Arkie' Barton, am innocent and they are
executing an innocent man!!'
·
Missouri said it was moving ahead with plans to
execute Barton, unlike other states that have postponed executions during the
coronavirus pandemic
·
A federal appeals court on Sunday overturned a 30-day
stay of execution
·
Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said
Monday that he had not heard anything to make him reconsider the execution
Published:
09:44 AEST, 20 May 2020 | Updated: 16:06 AEST, 20 May 2020
A
Missouri inmate on Tuesday became the first person to be executed since the coronavirus pandemic
took hold.
Walter
Barton, 64, died by lethal injection for killing Gladys Kuehler, 81, in 1991. A
jury recently said that 'compelling' new evidence made them feel
'uncomfortable' about the conviction and he had long maintained his
innocence.
His
case had been tied up for years due to appeals, mistrials and two overturned
convictions but his fate was sealed when neither the courts nor Gov. Mike
Parson intervened.
Barton
breathed heavily five times after the lethal drug entered his body Tuesday
evening, then suddenly stopped. In his final statement released prior to his
execution, Barton said: 'I, Walter 'Arkie' Barton, am innocent and they are
executing an innocent man!!'
A
federal appeals court on Sunday overturned a 30-day stay of execution granted
by a judge two days earlier.
Republican
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Monday that he had not heard anything to make
him reconsider the execution which will 'move forward as scheduled.'
One of Barton's attorneys, Fred Duchardt
Jr., had previously said Parson may not have the time to consider clemency
because of the attention he must pay to dealing with the coronavirus.
Barton was executed in Bonne
Terre, Missouri, about 60 miles south of St. Louis, at a prison that has no
confirmed cases of the virus. Strict protocols were in place to protect workers
and visitors from exposure to the coronavirus.
Everyone entering the prison had
their temperatures checked. Face coverings were required, and the prison
provided masks and gloves for those who didn’t have them.
Witnesses were divided into three
rooms. Those witnesses include an Associated Press reporter and other
journalists and state witnesses, and people there to support Barton. No
relatives or other supporters of the victim attended.
The execution made Barton the
first person executed in the US since Nathaniel Woods was put to death in
Alabama on March 5.
Soon after that, efforts to limit
the spread of the coronavirus shut down the US economy and led to strict limits
on social distancing, including inside prisons. Three states have put aside
executions over the past two-and-a-half months.
Gladys Kuehler operated a mobile
home park in the town of Ozark, Missouri, near Springfield. In October 1991 she
was found dead in her bedroom. She had been beaten, sexually assaulted and
stabbed more than 50 times.
Barton has long said he was
innocent, and his case has been tied up for years due to appeals, mistrials and
two overturned convictions.
Other states, including Ohio,
Tennessee and Texas, have postponed executions after attorneys argued that
pandemic-related closures prevented them from securing records or conducting
interviews for clemency petitions and court appeals.
Attorneys also expressed concerns
about interacting with individuals and possibly being exposed to the virus.
And, they've argued that the execution process, which includes placing prison
workers and witnesses in close proximity to each other, could lead to spread of
COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
There have been no confirmed
cases of the virus in the prison housing Missouri's execution chamber in Bonne
Terre, about 60 miles south of St. Louis.
Barton often spent time at the
mobile home park that Kuehler operated. He was with her granddaughter and a neighbor
on the evening of October 9, 1991, when they found Kuehler dead in her bedroom.
Police noticed what appeared to
be blood stains on Barton's clothing, and DNA tests later confirmed it was
Kuehler's. Barton said the stains must have occurred when he pulled Kuehler's
granddaughter away from the body.
The granddaughter first confirmed
that account but testified that Barton never came into the bedroom. A blood
spatter expert at Barton's trial said the three small stains likely resulted
from the 'impact' of the knife.
The first attempt to prosecute
Barton ended in a mistrial in 1993 after his attorney objected that prosecutors
had failed to endorse any trial witnesses. Another mistrial was declared that
same year after another jury deadlocked.
Barton was convicted in 1994 and
sentenced to death. The state Supreme Court overturned the conviction over
objections to the prosecutor's final arguments. Barton was convicted again and
sentenced to death in 1998, but another new trial was ordered when a judge
found that the prosecution had failed to disclose the full background of one of
its witnesses, among other improprieties.
At his fifth trial, in 2006,
Barton was convicted for the third time. The state Supreme Court upheld that
conviction and death penalty in 2007, but Barton has continued his appeals.
In recent court filings, Barton's
attorney, Fred Duchardt Jr., cited the findings of another blood spatter
expert. Lawrence Renner examined Barton´s clothing and boots and concluded the
killer would have had far more blood stains.
Duchardt said three jurors
recently signed affidavits calling Renner's determination 'compelling' and
saying it would have affected their deliberations. The jury foreman said that
based on the new evidence, he would have been 'uncomfortable' recommending the
death penalty.
One of those on the jury went as
far to say they had 'serious questions' about Barton's guilt even at the trial.
Barton's attorney previously told
The Kansas City Star: 'It is a worse nightmare because evidence, never heard by
the jury who rendered judgment, undermines the key evidence used to convict.'
The expert said the killer could
not have worn the clothes used in the evidence against Barton.
'I
don't know how anybody could look at the evidence now and convict him,'
Duchardt said.
But
former prosecutor Ron Cleek, who tried Barton's fifth trial, disagreed.
'He had fair trials. He really did receive his whole due when it
came down to it. This last trial that I did was very clean,' he told KSPR. 'The victim gets her
just due. I think it was the right decision then. It's the right decision now.
His life will be ended so that no one else could be hurt. He is not an innocent
man.'
The
last execution in Texas, the nation's busiest capital punishment state, was
February 6.
Seven
executions that were scheduled since then have been delayed. Six of the delays
had some connection to the pandemic while the seventh was related to claims
that a death row inmate is intellectually disabled.
The
next execution in Texas is set for June 16. Officials have instituted a process
requiring witnesses to be be subject to the same screening required of prison
employees before entering the facility, Texas Department of Criminal Justice
spokesman Jeremy Desel said.
The
screening involves questions based on potential exposure to the coronavirus and
health inquiries.
Texas' death
chamber is not a heavy traffic area and is isolated from all parts of the
prison in Huntsville, and it is constantly cleaned, Desel said.
 |
|
Walter Barton was executed
Tuesday, in the first since Nathaniel Woods in Alabama on March 5
|
Walter Barton executed for 1991 murder of southwest
Missouri woman; pronounced dead at 6:10 pm
At 6:10
p.m. on Tuesday, May 19, 2020, convicted murderer Walter Barton, 64, was
pronounced dead at the state prison in southeast Missouri’s Bonne Terre. Barton
was convicted of first-degree murder for the 1991 brutal stabbing death of
81-year-old Gladys Kuehler of southwest Missouri’s Ozark.
His death
makes Missouri the first state in the nation to follow through with an
execution since the coronavirus began wreaking havoc on the U.S. According to
CBS News, COVID-19 concerns have led to other states postponing executions
among death row inmates. The Death Penalty Information Center lists Alabama as
carrying out the last execution – on March 5.
Missouri
Department of Corrections spokesperson Karen Pojmann tells Missourinet social
distancing measures were taken to protect those involved in the execution. She
says the nine witnesses were divided into three rooms big enough for them to
stay 6 feet apart. According to Pojmann, everyone who entered the prison was
screened, with a temperature check, before being allowed to enter, and everyone
was given a face cover and hand sanitizer.
Pojmann
says no staff or inmates at the maximum-security prison have tested positive
for COVID-19.
For
nearly 30 years, Barton’s case has been working its way through the court
system by way of five different trials. His attorneys attempted to have their
client’s execution overturned by claiming the man is innocent and is also
incompetent to be put to death due to a brain injury. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals
and the U.S. Supreme Court denied Barton’s appeals and Gov. Mike Parson told
reporters Monday that he did not foresee any reason to intervene.
Despite
Parson’s comment, death penalty opponents went to Jefferson City today to urge
the governor to grant clemency to Barton. A caravan of vehicles drove by the
Governor’s Mansion honking and flashing their vehicle lights. A press release
from the organizers says key testimony against Barton came from a jailhouse snitch
with a long criminal history of crimes of dishonesty such as fraud, bad check
writing, forgery, escape, and the use of aliases. The release says the state
agreed to drop a pending charge against that witness in exchange for her
testimony against Barton.
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