Missouri's Catholic heads: More executions a 'grave concern'

ST. LOUIS -- Missouri's Roman Catholic leaders are pressing anew for the abolishment of the state's "flawed" system of capital punishment, expressing concern at the rapid recent pace of executions and questioning whether last-minute clemency requests get proper consideration.

In an open letter dated Wednesday to Missouri's governor, attorney general, lawmakers and Supreme Court justices, the heads of the St. Louis' archdiocese and the state's three dioceses noted that 15 inmates have been put to death in Missouri since November 2013, "nearly one a month." Last year, Missouri's 10 executions tied Texas for the most in the nation.

"We wonder how much thought can be given to the circumstances of each defendant when these executions are carried out so routinely," the letter read in urging the recipients to "take a stand for life, mercy and justice."

The letter said clemency requests are ignored, "even when defendants are profoundly impaired by severe mental illness or traumatic brain injury."

"These cases rarely represent the 'worst of the worst' that the death penalty was intended for. Rather, they are evidence of a flawed death penalty system," the church leaders said.

A spokesman for Gov. Jay Nixon, Scott Holste, declined to discuss the matter Thursday. A spokeswoman for Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said that office may have a response later Thursday.

The letter came a day after Missouri executed Andre Cole for fatally stabbing a man in 1998 in a fit of rage over delinquent child-support payments. Cole's fate was sealed after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected several appeals -- one claiming Cole was mentally ill and unfit for execution -- and Nixon refused a clemency request.

The bishops said they were "especially troubled" by last month's execution of 74-year-old Cecil Clayton for the 1996 shooting death of a sheriff's deputy. Nixon and the nation's high court declined to spare Clayton, despite claims by the inmate's attorneys that a 1972 sawmill accident cost him about 8 percent of his brain, including one-fifth of the frontal lobe portion governing impulse control and judgment. Combined with his reported IQ of 71, Clayton's attorneys insisted psychiatric evaluations concluded he didn't understand the significance of his scheduled execution or the reasons for it.

"Our hearts go out to the families who have tragically lost their loved one to violence. They need our support and compassion," the letter read.

"Just as we see the likeness of God in an innocent child, we must learn to see the same in a criminal, even as we condemn the sin committed," the bishops added. "Out of a desire for retribution, we must not surrender the belief that all human life is sacred."