Group calls for moratorium on eve of execution

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- An anti-death penalty group says the case of a man scheduled to die Wednesday for shooting spree in Poplar Bluff 18 years ago highlights the need for a moratorium on executions in Missouri.

Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty says Kenneth Kenley is mentally ill and while aware of his actions he could not control them when he fatally shot Ronald Felts and wounded two others during a series of armed robberies on Jan. 1, 1984.

Kenley, 42, is scheduled to die by injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday at the Potosi Correctional Center.

Rita Linhardt of MADP said Kenley was first diagnosed with mental problems at age 11 and since going to prison has managed his condition through a drug regimen. The group doesn't question his guilt.

"His background is just horrendous," Linhardt said.

The capital punishment opponents will urge Gov. Bob Holden to commute Kenley's sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole during a rally at the Capitol today. They will also renew their call for Holden to suspend executions in the state.

No action by HoldenAs of Monday evening, Holden had taken no action on Kenley's clemency application. Kenley would be the 60th Missouri inmate executed since the state resumed carrying out death sentences in 1989 and the 13th during Holden's administration.

Holden has repeatedly declined to follow the lead of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan by imposing a moratorium on executions. Just before leaving office last month, Ryan emptied his state's death row through a mass commutation of condemned inmates' sentences to life in prison. He also gave complete pardons to some inmates.

"We haven't had the same problems as in Illinois, but we certainly have flaws in the system," Linhardt said.

A moratorium would provide the opportunity to examine those failings, she added.

Several bills filed by urban Democrats would either require a moratorium or ban capital punishment outright.

However, with Republicans, who control the General Assembly, and rural Democrats generally supportive of the death penalty such legislation is expected to make little progress.

Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, predicted efforts to halt or abolish capital punishment will fail as they have in past legislative sessions. Kinder said the system in Missouri works.

"All of these inmates get a lot of due process," Kinder said. "What Governor Ryan did in Illinois was not looked at with a whole lot of favor outside of the families of the condemned inmates."

mpowers@semissourian.com

(573) 635-4608

INMATE'S PATH THROUGH THE COURTS

According to the Missouri Attorney General's Office, which has represented the state as Kenley's appeals have moved through the court system, the average time between conviction and execution for a death row inmate is about 10 years. Kenley's case had dragged on for 19 years, almost twice the average.

1984

n Jan. 3-4: Kenley engages in a crime spree in the Poplar Bluff area. During the spree, Kenley kills Ronald Felts, seriously wounds Sandra Buttry and Randy Jenkins, and engages in a shoot-out with the Clay County sheriff.

Jan. 24: Kenley is charged with capital murder

June 13: Kenley's murder trial begins

June 15: The jury finds Kenley guilty of murder and sentences him to death.

July 19: Kenley files notice of appeal

1985

July 25: The Missouri Supreme Court affirms Kenley's conviction and sentence.

1986

March 31: The U.S. Supreme Court denies certiorari review.

Aug. 1: Kenley files a Rule 27.26 motion for post-conviction relief in the Circuit Court of Butler County.

Dec. 2: The circuit court denies post-conviction relief.

1988

Sept. 7: The Missouri Court of Appeals affirms the denial of post conviction relief.

Nov. 30: Kenley files a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

1989

July 12: The district court denies the petition for writ of habeas corpus in an unpublished order.

1991

May 17: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirms the conviction and orders a new penalty phase.

Nov. 12: The Supreme Court declines to review.

1992

April 17: Kenley holds a prison librarian hostage during a two-hour long stand off at the prison in Potosi.

1994

March 7: After a change of venue to Phelps County, the second penalty phase trial begins.

March 11: The jury returns a verdict of death.

July 5: Kenley appeals to the Missouri Supreme Court

1995

Feb. 1: Kenley files a Rule 29.15 motion for post-conviction relief.

1996

April 26: The circuit court denies post conviction relief.

1997

Aug. 19: The Missouri Supreme Court affirms the sentence and the denial of post-conviction relief.

1998

Jan. 26: The Supreme Court denies review.

Oct. 1: Kenley files a petition for habeas corpus.

1999

July 26: The district grants relief in part and denies in part in an unpublished opinion.

2000

Sept. 28: The court of appeals affirms in part, reverses in part and remands for further proceedings.

Nov. 2: The district court denies habeas relief.

2002

Jan. 3: The court of appeals affirms the denial of habeas relief.

Oct. 7: The supreme court declines to review

2003

Jan. 7: The Missouri Supreme Court sets Feb. 5, 2003 as Kenley's execution date.

Feb. 5: Kenley is set to be executed by lethal injection in the state prison at Potosi for the murder of Ronald Felts.