Missouri attorney general asks U.S. Supreme Court to review Cape County murder case

A Cape Girardeau County murder case could go before the U.S Supreme Court.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed a petition Tuesday with the court, requesting justices consider the case of Mark A. Gill, a man convicted of a 2002 kidnapping and murder.

Gill was placed on death row in 2004 after a New Madrid County jury found him guilty of killing Ralph Lape of Jackson in a cornfield near Portageville, Mo. The Missouri Supreme Court overturned Gill's original death sentence in December.

A date for a new penalty trial had not been set before Koster's office filed the petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review, and possibly reverse, the decision.

"They only take about 400 cases a year for the whole United States," said Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle, who originally tried Gill's case. "They're looking for cases that have the most important legal issues, so the few cases that they decide will impact the most people."

Four of nine Supreme Court justices need to approve the petition in order to take the case, which Swingle says has the potential to be the most important case involving crime victims' rights since Payne vs. Tennessee. That 1991 U.S. Supreme Court case allowed victim impact statements to be used in the sentencing phase of a trial and made them admissible in a death penalty case without violating the U.S. Constitution.

In Gill's case, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled his attorneys provided ineffective counsel by failing to discover information about child pornography found on Lape's computer.

The discovery could have been used to rebut the positive character testimony about the victim, according to the opinion of the Missouri Supreme Court.

Additionally, Gill sought to overturn his sentence on grounds the court allowed victim impact testimony on Lape's character.

Swingle said Diane Miller, Lape's sister, testified at the trial that she had a great brother. Lape's daughter also testified, calling Lape a good father and that because of his murder, he'd miss her college graduation.

"The Missouri Supreme Court has now said that the character of a crime victim is irrelevant and if the defense wants to object they can keep it out completely," Swingle said. "That flies in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court's prior rulings. The Missouri Supreme Court case was dead wrong and needs to be corrected."

Miller said she and other members of Lape's family are glad the attorney general's office is petitioning the Supreme Court to review the lower court's decision. It's important not only for the Lape family, she said, but also for other victims of crime.

"Obviously, we would like things settled and for things to be taken care of, but you have to think about people who come after you also," Miller said. "This could affect a lot of people and a lot of cases down the road."

ehevern@semissourian.com

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