The next man scheduled for execution in Missouri is running out of options, and there are serious questions that the state will even be able to kill him humanely.
Richard Clay is going to die next week. After two separate trials -- the first of which was thrown out because of questions regarding the prosecution's methods -- he was convicted in 2004 of the killing of New Madrid man, Randy Martindale, and given a death sentence. Now the Missouri State Supreme Court has denied his most recent request for a stay of execution.
Clay is to be executed by lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, January 12.
Clay's pending death has received more attention than the average inmate's might because of all the drama surrounding his conviction. Former U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, a lead prosecuting attorney in Clay's case, was found to have had less-than-honest dealings in several trials. At least one former death-row prisoner has been released because it came out that Hulshof withheld evidence in his case. Clay's conviction was one of seven reviewed, on the suspicion that Hulshof cheated and bullied his way through court.
With the legal process almost exhausted, Clay's attorneys are now looking to keep him from the needle with a recent ACLU report finding that Missouri's dwindling supply of the drug sodium thiopental -- the anesthetic used in lethal injection -- is possibly already at its expiration date and ineffective. The state supply is so low that corrections officials didn't use it in execution rehearsals last year, so that they could stretch the reserves and have enough to properly use on inmates. This has led to concerns that during the real execution, no one will know how to properly mix and administer the drug.
"We do not believe that the state can guarantee that Mr. Clay will not be killed in a cruel and unusual manner," Brenda Jones, director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, told reporters.
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