On this date, May 19, 2020, Walter Barton was executed by lethal injection in Missouri. He was convicted of the murder of Gladys Kuehler in October 9, 1991.
'They are executing an innocent man': Last statement of Missouri murderer who was put to death by lethal injection for beating, sexually assaulting and stabbing a woman, 81, in 1991
· Walter Barton, 64, died by lethal injection on Tuesday for killing Gladys Kuehler
· It was the first execution since Nathaniel Woods in Alabama on March 5
· DNA testing showed that a stain on Barton's clothing was Kuehler's blood
· But new testimony, countering blood spatter evidence from the state, is said to have left some jurors 'uncomfortable' with the death penalty they recommended
· In his final statement released prior to his execution, Barton said: 'I, Walter 'Arkie' Barton, am innocent and they are executing an innocent man!!'
· Missouri said it was moving ahead with plans to execute Barton, unlike other states that have postponed executions during the coronavirus pandemic
· A federal appeals court on Sunday overturned a 30-day stay of execution
· Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Monday that he had not heard anything to make him reconsider the execution
A Missouri inmate on Tuesday became the first person to be executed since the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
Walter Barton, 64, died by lethal injection for killing Gladys Kuehler, 81, in 1991. A jury recently said that 'compelling' new evidence made them feel 'uncomfortable' about the conviction and he had long maintained his innocence.
His case had been tied up for years due to appeals, mistrials and two overturned convictions but his fate was sealed when neither the courts nor Gov. Mike Parson intervened.
Barton breathed heavily five times after the lethal drug entered his body Tuesday evening, then suddenly stopped. In his final statement released prior to his execution, Barton said: 'I, Walter 'Arkie' Barton, am innocent and they are executing an innocent man!!'
A federal appeals court on Sunday overturned a 30-day stay of execution granted by a judge two days earlier.
Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Monday that he had not heard anything to make him reconsider the execution which will 'move forward as scheduled.'
One of Barton's attorneys, Fred Duchardt Jr., had previously said Parson may not have the time to consider clemency because of the attention he must pay to dealing with the coronavirus.
Barton was executed in Bonne Terre, Missouri, about 60 miles south of St. Louis, at a prison that has no confirmed cases of the virus. Strict protocols were in place to protect workers and visitors from exposure to the coronavirus.
Everyone entering the prison had their temperatures checked. Face coverings were required, and the prison provided masks and gloves for those who didn’t have them.
Witnesses were divided into three rooms. Those witnesses include an Associated Press reporter and other journalists and state witnesses, and people there to support Barton. No relatives or other supporters of the victim attended.
The execution made Barton the first person executed in the US since Nathaniel Woods was put to death in Alabama on March 5.
Soon after that, efforts to limit the spread of the coronavirus shut down the US economy and led to strict limits on social distancing, including inside prisons. Three states have put aside executions over the past two-and-a-half months.
Gladys Kuehler operated a mobile home park in the town of Ozark, Missouri, near Springfield. In October 1991 she was found dead in her bedroom. She had been beaten, sexually assaulted and stabbed more than 50 times.
Barton has long said he was innocent, and his case has been tied up for years due to appeals, mistrials and two overturned convictions.
Other states, including Ohio, Tennessee and Texas, have postponed executions after attorneys argued that pandemic-related closures prevented them from securing records or conducting interviews for clemency petitions and court appeals.
Attorneys also expressed concerns about interacting with individuals and possibly being exposed to the virus. And, they've argued that the execution process, which includes placing prison workers and witnesses in close proximity to each other, could lead to spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
There have been no confirmed cases of the virus in the prison housing Missouri's execution chamber in Bonne Terre, about 60 miles south of St. Louis.
Barton often spent time at the mobile home park that Kuehler operated. He was with her granddaughter and a neighbor on the evening of October 9, 1991, when they found Kuehler dead in her bedroom.
Police noticed what appeared to be blood stains on Barton's clothing, and DNA tests later confirmed it was Kuehler's. Barton said the stains must have occurred when he pulled Kuehler's granddaughter away from the body.
The granddaughter first confirmed that account but testified that Barton never came into the bedroom. A blood spatter expert at Barton's trial said the three small stains likely resulted from the 'impact' of the knife.
The first attempt to prosecute Barton ended in a mistrial in 1993 after his attorney objected that prosecutors had failed to endorse any trial witnesses. Another mistrial was declared that same year after another jury deadlocked.
Barton was convicted in 1994 and sentenced to death. The state Supreme Court overturned the conviction over objections to the prosecutor's final arguments. Barton was convicted again and sentenced to death in 1998, but another new trial was ordered when a judge found that the prosecution had failed to disclose the full background of one of its witnesses, among other improprieties.
At his fifth trial, in 2006, Barton was convicted for the third time. The state Supreme Court upheld that conviction and death penalty in 2007, but Barton has continued his appeals.
In recent court filings, Barton's attorney, Fred Duchardt Jr., cited the findings of another blood spatter expert. Lawrence Renner examined Barton´s clothing and boots and concluded the killer would have had far more blood stains.
Duchardt said three jurors recently signed affidavits calling Renner's determination 'compelling' and saying it would have affected their deliberations. The jury foreman said that based on the new evidence, he would have been 'uncomfortable' recommending the death penalty.
One of those on the jury went as far to say they had 'serious questions' about Barton's guilt even at the trial.
Barton's attorney previously told The Kansas City Star: 'It is a worse nightmare because evidence, never heard by the jury who rendered judgment, undermines the key evidence used to convict.'
The expert said the killer could not have worn the clothes used in the evidence against Barton.
'I don't know how anybody could look at the evidence now and convict him,' Duchardt said.
But former prosecutor Ron Cleek, who tried Barton's fifth trial, disagreed.
'He had fair trials. He really did receive his whole due when it came down to it. This last trial that I did was very clean,' he told KSPR. 'The victim gets her just due. I think it was the right decision then. It's the right decision now. His life will be ended so that no one else could be hurt. He is not an innocent man.'
The last execution in Texas, the nation's busiest capital punishment state, was February 6.
Seven executions that were scheduled since then have been delayed. Six of the delays had some connection to the pandemic while the seventh was related to claims that a death row inmate is intellectually disabled.
The next execution in Texas is set for June 16. Officials have instituted a process requiring witnesses to be be subject to the same screening required of prison employees before entering the facility, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jeremy Desel said.
The screening involves questions based on potential exposure to the coronavirus and health inquiries.
Texas' death chamber is not a heavy traffic area and is isolated from all parts of the prison in Huntsville, and it is constantly cleaned, Desel said.
INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8338311/Missouri-inmate-executed-pandemic-began-brutal-1991-murder-woman-81.html
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Walter Barton was executed Tuesday, in the first since Nathaniel Woods in Alabama on March 5 |
Walter Barton executed for 1991 murder of southwest Missouri woman; pronounced dead at 6:10 pm
At 6:10 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19, 2020, convicted murderer Walter Barton, 64, was pronounced dead at the state prison in southeast Missouri’s Bonne Terre. Barton was convicted of first-degree murder for the 1991 brutal stabbing death of 81-year-old Gladys Kuehler of southwest Missouri’s Ozark.
His death makes Missouri the first state in the nation to follow through with an execution since the coronavirus began wreaking havoc on the U.S. According to CBS News, COVID-19 concerns have led to other states postponing executions among death row inmates. The Death Penalty Information Center lists Alabama as carrying out the last execution – on March 5.
Missouri Department of Corrections spokesperson Karen Pojmann tells Missourinet social distancing measures were taken to protect those involved in the execution. She says the nine witnesses were divided into three rooms big enough for them to stay 6 feet apart. According to Pojmann, everyone who entered the prison was screened, with a temperature check, before being allowed to enter, and everyone was given a face cover and hand sanitizer.
Pojmann says no staff or inmates at the maximum-security prison have tested positive for COVID-19.
For nearly 30 years, Barton’s case has been working its way through the court system by way of five different trials. His attorneys attempted to have their client’s execution overturned by claiming the man is innocent and is also incompetent to be put to death due to a brain injury. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court denied Barton’s appeals and Gov. Mike Parson told reporters Monday that he did not foresee any reason to intervene.
Despite Parson’s comment, death penalty opponents went to Jefferson City today to urge the governor to grant clemency to Barton. A caravan of vehicles drove by the Governor’s Mansion honking and flashing their vehicle lights. A press release from the organizers says key testimony against Barton came from a jailhouse snitch with a long criminal history of crimes of dishonesty such as fraud, bad check writing, forgery, escape, and the use of aliases. The release says the state agreed to drop a pending charge against that witness in exchange for her testimony against Barton.
INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.kttn.com/walter-barton-executed-for-1991-murder-of-southwest-missouri-woman-pronounced-dead-at-610-pm/
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