Missouri Execution Will Be Carried Out As Governor Denies Clemency

William Rousan, 57, is facing execution in Missouri on Wednesday at midnight.

His request for clemency has been denied by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, meaning there is now no legal obstacle to the sentence being carried out. Nixon justified his decision, saying Rousan’s sentence is appropriate for allegedly organizing the “cold-blooded plot,” which also involved Rousan’s son and his brother.

The Associated Press reported that the U.S. Supreme Court had already rejected Rousan’s request to delay his execution, so there are no further lines of appeal.

Arguments against the execution hinged on allegations that Missouri, like some other states, was having difficulty in obtaining the appropriate drugs, and fears that substandard alternatives could cause unnecessary pain and suffering.

In February, The Inquisitr reported that Missouri had executed inmate Michael A Taylor, using a lethal injection of Pentobarbitol.

Missouri is one of several states using compounded execution drugs purchased from unnamed pharmacies. Most courts have so far allowed executions to proceed, but on Monday, Oklahoma Supreme Court stopped the executions of two death row inmates. Their challenge regarding the the secrecy surrounding the process of procuring execution drugs was accepted by the court.

Rousan was sentenced to death for the killing of 62-year-old Grace Lewis. In addition, he received a life sentence for his part in the death of her 67-year-old husband, Charles.

Rousan lived in the same area of St. Francois County as the Lewis’s. On Sept. 21, 1993, Rousan, his 16-year-old son, Brent, and his brother, Robert, devised a plan to kill the couple and steal their cattle.

After the killings, Rousan buried the bodies on a farm where he was living at that time. A year passed before police learned that a VCR, which had been stolen from the Lewis’s by Rousan, had turned up in a pawn shop. Rousan was arrested on Sept. 20, 1994.

Brent Rousan pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Robert Rousan cooperated with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was released from prison in 2001.

Missouri has carried out one execution each month since November. Since 1976 the total number of executions in Missouri is in excess of 70. The next execution (of Russell Bucklew), is scheduled for May 21.