Shooting raises death penalty question

Prosecutors have not yet decided they will seek the death penalty if the Scopus, Mo., woman charged with Michael Strong's murder is found guilty.

Strong was found shot to death in his Bollinger County home July 27 after his girlfriend, Lisa Barlow, 41, called 911 and indicated intruders may have shot him.

Police arrested Barlow Wednesday night and charged her with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. She is held at the Cape Girar-deau County Jail on $500,000 cash bond.

"It's too early to tell just yet whether the case will meet the criteria for seeking the death penalty," said Bollinger County Prosecuting Attorney Steve Gray.

Because Gray's office has charged Barlow with first-degree murder, technically her case could be tried as a capital case if one of the necessary elements can be proven.

However, few women have been tried in capital murder cases.

Only one woman has ever been put to death in Missouri in 70 years, or since the existence of a death penalty law in the state, according to Brian Hauswirth, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Bonnie Brown Heady, convicted of kidnapping a 6-year-old boy, died by lethal gas in 1953.

Just five women were sentenced to death since 1937, when Gov. Lloyd Crow Stark signed a bill legalizing execution by lethal gas.

Of those five, Heady was executed, one woman committed suicide in prison, three had their convictions reversed, and the fourth received medical parole.

Before the 1937 law, most towns in Missouri held public hangings to execute those found guilty of serious crimes, Hauswirth said.

Those hangings were conducted by county sheriffs, and a lack of accessible records makes it difficult to tell whether women had been executed in Missouri prior to 1937.

Since Missouri reinstated the death penalty in 1989 after a 24-year moratorium, no woman has been sentenced to death.

In the past 70 years, 104 men have been executed in Missouri.

According to Hauswirth, one obvious reason for the discrepancy is there are simply more male convicts than females. As of Thursday, 29,996 men were serving time in Missouri state prisons, compared to only 2,575 women.

"The numbers tell the story," Hauswirth said.

For a case like Barlow's to be considered eligible for the death penalty, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt not only first-degree murder, but one of 17 provable factors existed, according to governing legislation.

Though the majority of key elements do not appear to apply in Barlow's case, aggravating factors include:

• If the motive for the killing was financial gain.
• If the motive for the killing was to escape a lawful arrest or imprisonment.
• If the murder was committed while in the midst of committing a second felony.

If a jury returns a verdict that one of these elements exists, it can recommend the death penalty.

Then a judge must decide, taking into account all of the circumstances, statements from the defendants and the victims, etc., to sentence a defendant to death.

There are also several mitigating factors a defense attorney may argue during the trial, including:

• Lack of significant criminal history.
• Extreme mental or emotional disturbance.
• The mental capacity of the defendant to grasp the consequences of their actions.

Gray declined to comment on whether any of the required elements may apply in Barlow's case.

Generally, only the "most horrible of crimes" end up as death penalty cases, Hauswirth said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245