Russell Bucklew case

The State of Missouri executed Russell Bucklew on Tuesday, 23 years after violent episodes left a man dead. Bucklew was declared dead at 6:23 p.m. at Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, after authorities administered a lethal dose of pentobarbital. ...

ST. LOUIS — Attorneys for a Missouri death row inmate with a rare medical condition say the tracheostomy tube he relies on to breathe increases the risk of a “grotesque execution process” if he is put to death as scheduled Oct. 1. Clemency from Gov. Mike Parson may be the last hope for 51-year-old convicted killer Russell Bucklew. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April the execution could proceed, and Bucklew’s attorneys haven’t decided whether there is any merit in a state court appeal...

WASHINGTON — Missouri can execute an inmate who argued his rare medical condition will result in severe pain if he is put to death by lethal injection, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. The justices split along ideological lines in ruling 5-4 against inmate Russell Bucklew, who is on death row for a 1996 murder...

The Missouri Supreme Court has set a March 20 execution date for convicted murderer Russell Bucklew, who was described by former Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle as "the most evil person I've ever prosecuted." Bucklew, 49, is scheduled to die by injection for killing a man in 1996 during a violent crime spree...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Attorneys for inmate Russell Bucklew, on death row for the 1996 killing of a man during a crime spree in Southeast Missouri, have suggested using a firing squad as one alternate mean of his execution in addition to the gas chamber...

Attorneys for Russell Bucklew have filed a fourth amended complaint in U.S. District Court to determine the method of his execution, and the court has ordered the state to respond by Friday. Bucklew, 47, of Cape Girardeau, received a last-minute stay of execution last year because of a medical condition attorneys argued could make lethal injection cruel or bloody...

BONNE TERRE, Mo. -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday halted the execution of convicted murderer Russell Bucklew. Less than six hours before Bucklew's death warrant was set to expire, the high court issued an order granting his application for a stay of execution pending appeal in the federal Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals...

Russel Bucklew is running out of options. On Monday afternoon, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri refused his request for a stay of execution. Also on Monday, Gov. Jay Nixon said he didn't see any reason to halt the execution for medical reasons...

Editor's Note: This is the last in a series of stories surrounding the pending execution of Russell Bucklew. If he does not receive a stay, Bucklew will die by lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. The Southeast Missourian will be covering his execution. ...

ST. LOUIS -- A Missouri death row inmate scheduled to be the first person put to death in the U.S. since a botched execution in Oklahoma last month said he is scared the lethal drug could cause him to suffer or leave him alive but brain dead. Russell Bucklew, who turned 46 on Friday, is scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for killing a man living with his ex-girlfriend as part of a crime spree in Southeast Missouri in 1996...

Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of stories surrounding the pending execution of Russell Bucklew. Look for the last installment in Tuesday's newspaper. If Russell Bucklew's execution goes forward as scheduled at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, he will become the 75th Missouri inmate put to death by lethal injection since the state adopted the practice in 1987...

Editor's note: This is the first in a series of stories covering the pending execution of Russell Bucklew at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Look for the next installment in Monday's newspaper. A painting adorns the wall in the Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney's office in Jackson. At first glance, the artwork appears to tell the story of a simpler time when horse-drawn buggies were the common mode of travel, but closer inspection reveals a much more serious tale...

(Before executions began in Missouri's gas chamber in the 1930s, legal hangings were held in the state's counties. A comprehensive list of these executions could not be found. A few instances of legal hangings in Southeast Missouri were found from a variety of sources.)...

Attorneys for convicted murderer Russell Bucklew filed a motion in federal court Friday, seeking to videotape his execution. Bucklew, 45, is scheduled for lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Earlier this month, Bucklew's attorneys contacted the Missouri Department of Corrections, asking for permission to videotape his execution, but were told during a conference call DOC attorneys would not agree to the taping, the motion states...

If Russell Bucklew's lethal injection goes forward as scheduled next week, his medical condition could lead to a "protracted, bloody [and] ugly" outcome, his attorney said Monday. Cheryl Pilate on Friday filed a complaint in federal court, seeking to delay Bucklew's execution until "reasonable and necessary" medical tests have been conducted and steps have been taken to ensure he is executed in a constitutional manner...

A Cape Girardeau man convicted of the 1996 murder of Michael Sanders finally has an execution date, the Missouri Supreme Court announced Wednesday. Russell Bucklew, 45, is set to be put to death May 21, exactly 18 years and two months after Sanders' death...

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The Missouri Supreme Court has declined to set execution dates for six condemned killers, saying doing so is "premature" until the courts decide if Missouri's new execution method passes constitutional muster. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster in May asked the court to set the execution dates. That was the same month the Missouri Department of Corrections adopted a new execution protocol that uses a single drug, propofol...

Russell Bucklew has sat on death row for 15 years awaiting his sentence for what local law enforcement officials describe as one of the worst Cape Girardeau County crimes of the past few decades. Now, if Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster gets his way, Bucklew's wait is about to end...

The home of Jerry and Dorothy Sanders isn't exactly a shrine to their dead son, but mementos of Mike's life are everywhere. Photos line the walls throughout their small house, tucked away along a back country road in Scopus, Mo. They still keep Mike's black six-string. They have pages and pages of the songs he wrote...

Since the stories about the crimes of Russell Bucklew began running this week, I've received quite a few calls, emails and messages. Some were complimentary, some critical. Three have stood out. The series has focused almost exclusively on what happened that spring and summer of 1996 and how the family members of the victims have coped over the past 15 years with the powerful loss of losing a loved one...

It is the afternoon of June 19, 1996, and Deputy Richie Walker is on patrol. His eyes are darting as he cruises along State Highway 177 south of Egypt Mills, a small community in northern Cape Girardeau County. Walker is a cop on serious business. Walker is hunting a killer...

Shoot him!" Several Missouri State Highway Patrol cruisers circle a small, dark colored Honda along Interstate 270 in St. Louis. It's about 10 p.m., March 21, 1996. The cops know the driver is dangerous. He's apparently already killed a man, down in Cape Girardeau County, more than 100 miles south of here...

If some of life's first memories are somehow sacred -- a mother's tender touch, a playful family pet, a pretty preschool teacher -- then the first recollection in the life of Zach Sanders is more akin to blasphemy. His first memory, from age 4, is neither sweet nor sentimental, nor an event he reflects on with any sense of dewy-eyed affection...