MISSOURI (USA): ATTORNEY GENERAL ASKS SUPREME COURT TO APPROVE TWO EXECUTIONS USING PROPOFOL

July 1, 2013: Attorney General Chris Koster again today called on the Missouri Supreme Court to set execution dates for Joseph Franklin and Allen Nicklasson, noting that the Missouri Department of Corrections' supply of propofol is limited, and much of its remaining supply will expire by next spring.
Last August, the Supreme Court issued an order saying that Koster's May 2012 request to set execution dates was premature until questions on the use of propofol in executions are settled. Koster said, however, that waiting until federal litigation is complete may prevent the State from administering capital punishment at all. "For nearly a decade, the mere pendency of federal litigation has been used as an artificial hurdle, unauthorized by law or federal court order, to prevent the State from carrying out the death penalty," Koster said.
"The Court's current position has allowed successive, limited supplies of propofol to reach their expiration dates. Unless the Court changes its current course, the legislature will soon be compelled to fund statutorily-authorized alternative methods of execution to carry out lawful judgments."
The State first asked the Court to set an execution date for Joseph Franklin in June 2009, and for Allen Nicklasson in January 2010.
Franklin, 63, White, was convicted in 1997 for the October 8, 1977 shooting and killing of outside a synagogue. Franklin also was convicted of shooting two other men who were in the synagogue parking lot. While Franklin will be executed for his crimes in Missouri, he also was convicted for the murder of two African-Americans in Utah, the murder of an interracial couple in Wisconsin, and the bombing of a synagogue in Tennessee. Franklin also has claimed responsibility for the shooting of Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine.
Nicklasson, 40, White, was found guilty in 1996 of first degree murder for the 1994 killing of Richard Drummond who had offered a ride to Nicklasson after his car broke down on Interstate 70. The State executed co-defendant Dennis Skillicorn on May 20, 2009 for his role in the crime. (Sources: Associated Press, 01/07/2013)