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Convicted central Missouri murderer Tisius executed; expresses remorse for 2000 killings

June 7, 2023 By Brian Hauswirth

A convicted double killer from mid-Missouri has been executed by lethal injection, about 23 years after he killed two Randolph County jailers in Huntsville.

Michael Tisius was executed at the state’s maximum-security prison in southeast Missouri’s Bonne Terre on Tuesday evening. The Associated Press (AP) reports Tisius breathed hard a few times as the drug was administered, then fell silent. The AP reports Tisius’ spiritual adviser was in the execution chamber with Tisius.

In his final statement, Tisius says he tried hard to become a better man and expressed remorse for the killings. “I am sorry. And not because I am at the end. But because I truly am sorry,” the AP quotes Tisius as writing.

The 42-year-old Tisius was convicted and sentenced to death for shooting jailers Jason Acton and Leon Egley to death in Huntsville in June 2000. Missouri Governor Mike Parson denied a clemency request from Tisius.

“Missouri’s judicial system provided Mr. Tisius with due process and fair proceedings for his brutal murders of two Randolph County jail guards,” the governor says, in a written statement.

Attorneys for Tisius had urged the U.S. Supreme Court to block the execution, alleging that a juror at a 2010 sentencing hearing was illiterate, in violation of state law.

Death penalty opponents urge Missouri’s governor to stop Tisius’ scheduled execution

May 31, 2023 By Brian Hauswirth

A state lawmaker from St. Louis and other death penalty opponents are urging Missouri’s governor to block Tuesday’s scheduled execution of convicted murderer Michael Tisius.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson’s spokeswoman, Kelli Jones, tells 939 the Eagle that the governor’s office is reviewing the clemency request from Tisius and his supporters.

The 42-year-old Tisius is under a death sentence for killing two Randolph County jailers in Huntsville in 2000 in an attempt to help Tisius’ former cellmate try to escape from jail. The former cellmate was unable to escape. The two jailers were Leon Egley and Jason Acton. Both of the jailers were unarmed and were shot to death at the old jail.

The Missouri Supreme Court has scheduled the execution for Tuesday evening for Tisius. Barring intervention from the courts or from Governor Mike Parson, Tisius will be executed by lethal injection at the maximum-security prison in southeast Missouri’s Bonne Terre on Tuesday evening.

Our news partner KMIZ quotes State Rep. Peter Merideth (D-St. Louis) as wanting the execution to be blocked, saying he wishes for a state with more empathy.

“Wish for a state, I long for a state where our leaders could have empathy. Both with the victims and with the people that made the terrible choices who were probably victims leading up to that in their lives as well,” Representative Meredith is quoted as saying at Tuesday’s event in Jefferson City.

Death penalty opponents want the governor to commute Tisius’ sentence to life in prison without parole.

Convicted killer executed in Missouri; St. Louis congresswoman calls for ending capitol punishment

January 4, 2023 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri Governor Mike Parson speaks at Mizzou in Columbia on August 3, 2022 (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

A convicted murderer who raped and killed a woman in 2003 in eastern Missouri’s Earth City has been executed.

Amber McLaughlin, who’s a transgender woman, was known as Scott McLaughlin in 2003. McLaughlin was sentenced to death for raping and killing 45-year-old Beverly Guenther as she left work in Earth City. Prosecutors say Guenther was stabbed to death with a steak knife.

The Associated Press reports it’s believed to be the first execution of a transgender woman in the United States.

Governor Mike Parson (R) rejected a clemency request, saying McLaughlin’s conviction and sentence received multiple examinations. The governor says the victim was stalked and terrorized before the murder.

McLaughlin was executed by lethal injection Tuesday night at the state’s maximum-security prison in Bonne Terre. U.S. Rep. Cori Bush (D-St. Louis) called for the governor to block the execution, describing the death penalty as cruel and inhumane.

UPDATE: Missouri set to execute convicted murderer tonight; defense attorneys aim for stay

November 29, 2022 By Brian Hauswirth

Governor Mike Parson (right) listens, after appointing Andrew Bailey as Missouri’s next Attorney General on November 23, 2022 (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

Barring intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court or a federal judge, a convicted murderer from the St. Louis area will be executed this evening at the state’s maximum-security prison in Bonne Terre.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson has rejected a clemency request from attorneys for Kevin Johnson, who was convicted of first degree murder for the 2005 death of Kirkwood Police Sergeant William McEntee.

“Mr. Johnson has received every protection afforded by the Missouri and United States Constitutions, and Mr. Johnson’s conviction and sentence remain for his horrendous and callous crime. The state of Missouri will carry out Mr. Johnson’s sentence according to the Court’s order and deliver justice,” Governor Parson says, in a written statement.

The Missouri Supreme Court has denied a motion to stay Kevin Johnson’s execution, in a 5-2 Monday decision.

Johnson’s attorneys don’t deny that he killed Sergeant McEntee, but say he was sentenced to death in part because he’s an African-American. Death penalty opponents had hoped the Missouri Supreme Court would intervene.

Governor Parson describes the murder as heinous, saying McEntee was shot five times before he was able to crawl out of the police vehicle in Kirkwood on his hands and knees. Governor Parson says Johnson then fired two more shots to McEntee’s head.

Johnson will be put to death by lethal injection at the Bonne Terre sometime after 6 pm, unless the U.S. Supreme Court or a federal judge intervene.

BREAKING: Missouri’s governor rejects clemency request from convicted Columbia triple killer

October 4, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s governor has rejected a clemency request from convicted Columbia triple killer Ernest Lee Johnson, clearing the way for Tuesday’s scheduled execution in southeast Missouri’s Bonne Terre. Barring intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court or a federal judge, Johnson will be executed by lethal injection at the state’s maximum-security prison in Bonne Terre. “The state …