KILLER OF TROOPER HAS RUN OUT OF LEGAL DELAYS

Jerome Mallett, convicted of the April 1985 murder of Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper James Froemsdorf on Interstate-55 in Perry County, will be executed July 11.

So says the Missouri Supreme Court, which set the date last week.

Mallett was tried before a judge and a jury that heard all the evidence, including his confession to the killing.

Froemsdorf had stopped Mallett for speeding and had handcuffed him after discovering that there were five warrants out for his arrest. Mallett slipped out of the cuffs and shot Froemsdorf with his own gun.

After 15 years of trial and appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, he has had all the due process that's coming his way.

Any murder is a heinous crime. The murder of a peace officer is a special violation of civilization, of the thin veil that sets us apart from the rule of brute force. Froemsdorf's murder, taking from us a respected officer not yet 40 years old who had a wife and three daughters, was deeply shocking to the entire state, but especially to us in Southeast Missouri.