State Supreme Court sets execution date for Bucklew in Cape Girardeau County murderer case

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.

Bucklew was convicted in 1997 by a Boone County jury for a Cape Girardeau County murder.

Since then, there have been numerous appeals.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Limbaugh, who was not in office when Bucklew was prosecuted, said he is “happy to see the case is moving forward.”

Limbaugh said death-sentence cases are typically lengthy processes.

“These things can be very tough on the families of victims,” he said.

But ultimately the court process works, he said.

“The whole goal of this is that justice is served,” Limbaugh said.

The U.S. Supreme Court at the last minute halted his execution in May 2014 and sent the case back to a lower federal court amid concerns about Bucklew’s medical condition.

Bucklew suffers from cavernous hemangioma, a rare ailment that causes weakened and malformed blood vessels, as well as tumors in his nose and throat.

His attorney, Cheryl Pilate, said Missouri’s execution method could cause Bucklew’s death to rise to the level of unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.

“We believe that the setting of the date at this time is premature,” Pilate said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Attorneys for Bucklew suggested in 2015 a firing squad would be a better method of carrying out the death sentence.

The Missouri attorney general’s office did not immediately return an email message from The AP seeking comment.

Adding to the uncertainty in Missouri is the secretive process the state uses to obtain its execution drug, The AP reported.

Big drug manufacturers prohibit use of their drugs in executions, so it is believed Missouri and other states have turned to compounding pharmacies. Missouri refuses to say how or where it gets the pentobarbital used in executions.

None of the 20 inmates executed since Missouri switched from a three-drug protocol to pentobarbital in 2013 have shown obvious signs of pain or suffering, The AP reported.

But death-penalty opponents said the secrecy makes it impossible to ensure the drugs couldn’t cause an inmate to endure an agonizing death.

Bucklew committed the crimes in March 1996.

He was angry at his former girlfriend, Stephanie Pruitt, for leaving him and moving in with Michael Sanders of Cape Girardeau. Bucklew tracked Pruitt down at Sanders’ home and killed Sanders in front of Pruitt, her two daughters and Sanders’ two sons. He handcuffed and beat Pruitt, drove her to a secluded area and raped her.

After a state trooper spotted the car, Bucklew shot at the trooper but missed. The officer shot back, striking Bucklew in the forehead.

After undergoing treatment at a St. Louis hospital, he was taken to the Cape Girardeau County Jail. He later escaped in a trash bag and attacked Pruitt’s mother with a hammer.

A sheriff’s deputy caught Bucklew after he fled from police.

In 2012, then-prosecuting attorney Swingle criticized the lengthy wait for the death sentence to be carried out. Swingle said Bucklew is a good example of why the death penalty is needed.

“I just think he is a truly dangerous individual,” Swingle said.

“A murderer in the course of a kidnapping as he did is the type of crime you want the death penalty for,” he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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