SUPREME COURT TWICE REFUSES REVIEW OF ROLL'S CASE

Gary Lee Roll has run out of court appeals seven years after pleading guilty to murdering two people in their Cape Girardeau home.

Only a last-minute request to Gov. Mel Carnahan for clemency stands between him and his scheduled execution Wednesday.

The execution would come seven years to the day after Roll pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in Boone County Circuit Court in Columbia, Mo.

Roll, 48, was convicted of the August 1992 killing of a woman and one of her sons. He was charged with killing a second son, but that charged was dropped after he pleaded guilty on the other two charges.

Along with two accomplices, Roll shot, stabbed and pistol whipped the three before stealing a small amount of marijuana and $214 in cash.

Roll's execution is on a fast track compared to the case of Jerome Mallett, who killed a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper in Perry County on March 2, 1985. Mallett is still on death row partly because a federal judge didn't rule on the appeal for five years, said Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon.

Nixon said federal reforms enacted by Congress in 1996 have helped expedite death-row appeals.

Roll's case is an example of speedier justice, said Nixon, who along with other states' attorneys general lobbied for the reforms.

The new law limits the grounds for appeal and prevents death-row inmates from filing endless habeas corpus appeals. A death-row inmate in most cases is limited now to one appeal through the federal court system. They also can appeal through the state court system.

Roll's guilty plea also sped up the appeals process. "When you take out the question of guilt or innocence that also dramatically narrows the scope on appeal," Nixon said.

Roll was 40 years old at the time of the crime. He didn't commit the crimes in the passions of youth, the attorney general said.

"The facts of the case are dramatic and outrageous in themselves," Nixon said.

The attorney general said Roll knew what he was doing when he killed Randy, Curtis and Sherry Scheper.

"He killed three times," said Nixon.

Roll pleaded guilty to killing Sherry and Randy Scheper.

In denying his federal appeal on May 24, 1999, U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge George Fagg said the trial judge believed Roll was in command of his actions and not in a "drug-induced fog." Fagg also pointed to a conversation that Roll had with accomplice John Browne weeks after the murder. Browne secretly taped the conversation.

Fagg said the tape recording caught Roll "talking cold-bloodedly about the murders."

The U.S. Supreme Court twice refused to review the case.

In his appeals to state and federal judges, Roll argued that he was under the influence of LSD and prescription drugs at the time of the killings. He claimed that his trial lawyer, Kenneth McManaman, hadn't presented his troubled mental condition adequately.

Nixon said death-row inmates routinely claim they had "ineffective counsel" at the trial level.

The attorney general said it is the "constitutional mantra" that prisoners use in arguing there was a violation of their constitutional rights.

In the 1970s, search-and-seizure issues were raised. Today, the issue is ineffective counsel, he said.

Michael Shipley, a Liberty, Mo., lawyer, handled Roll's federal appeal.

Shipley said Roll wasn't represented well at his trial in Boone County Circuit Court in August 1993. Roll pleaded guilty on the first day of the trial, but Judge Frank Conley refused to accept the plea because Roll said he was on drugs at the time of the murders and couldn't remember firing the gun.

Following the first day of the trial, Roll again pleaded guilty and said he remembered firing the pistol and that he had lied about his lack of memory. Conley accepted Roll's plea.

Shipley said McManaman didn't cross-examine witnesses or make an opening statement during the first day of the trial.

Even with Roll's guilty plea, Shipley contends the trial lawyer should have sought sentencing by a jury.

All 12 jurors have to agree for the death sentence to be imposed. Shipley believes Roll would have had a better chance with a jury.

Roll claims McManaman indicated that he wouldn't get the death penalty if he pleaded guilty, Shipley said.

McManaman said he never made such a promise to Roll.

Roll, he said, understood the situation. "He knew what the possibilities were and wanted to plead guilty."

Said McManaman, "It is real easy to go back and say you could have done this or you could have done that. Hindsight is always 20-20."

McManaman said Roll admitted his guilt the night before the start of the trial. "He didn't want to make his family suffer anymore."

Even after pleading guilty, Roll was given time to consider whether he wanted sentencing imposed by the judge or a jury.

McManaman said he had reserved the right to an opening statement as a strategic move. He said he didn't cross-examine prosecution witnesses on the first day of the trial because those witnesses were only setting the foundation for the rest of the evidence.

McManaman said he would have cross examined key witnesses, particularly Roll's accomplices.

McManaman has handled 10 death penalty cases as a defense lawyer, including three in the military.

"This is the only one I have ever lost to the death penalty. It is a sobering experience," he said.

"I have often thought about the case since it happened and if I could have done something different to avoid the result," McManaman said.

He said that he and another lawyer from his firm did their best to defend Roll. "Everything we did, we did in good faith in an effort to help him, hopefully to try to save his life," McManaman said.

TIMELINE

Aug. 9, 1992: Randy, Sherry and Curtis Scheper were shot, stabbed and beaten to death in their Cape Girardeau home during a robbery.

Nov. 9, 1992: Gary Lee Roll is charged in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court with three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action and one count of first-degree robbery.

June 21, 1993: David Rhodes pleads guilty to 3 counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree robbery. Three life sentences.

June 22, 1993: John Browne pleads guilty to one count of second-degree murder. One life sentence.

Aug. 30, 1993: Roll pleads guilty to two of the murder charges in Boone County Circuit Court.

Nov. 16, 1993: Judge Frank Conley gives Roll the death sentence.

Feb. 10, 1994: Roll files an appeal with the trial court.

Nov. 22, 1994, Jan. 26-27, 1995, and April 4, 1995: Evidence is heard on Roll's motion.

Dec. 29, 1995: Judge Conley denies Roll's appeal.

March 25, 1997: Missouri Supreme Court affirms Roll's conviction and the death sentence.

Nov. 3, 1997: U.S. Supreme Court declines to review the case.

Jan. 30, 1998: Roll files a federal habeas corpus petition in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

Aug. 14, 1998: Judge Howard Sachs denies the appeal.

May 24, 1999: 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirms the district court judge's ruling.

Nov. 29, 1999: U.S. Supreme Court declines to review the case.

Dec. 3, 1999: Missouri attorney general's office files a motion to set the execution date.

July 18, 2000: Missouri Supreme Court schedules Roll's execution for Aug. 30.