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MISSOURI (USA): EARL FORREST EXECUTED
May 11, 2016: Earl Forrest, 66, White, was put to death.
He was convicted of the December 2002 killings of Harriett Smith and Michael Wells in a drug dispute. Forrest also fatally shot Sheriff's Deputy Joann Barnes after she arrived at Forrest's home. None of the 25 other men remaining on Missouri's death row face imminent execution.
16 have yet to exhaust court appeals and aren't likely to do so anytime soon. Execution is on hold for nine others.
2 were declared mentally unfit for execution. 2 were granted stays because of medical conditions that could cause painful deaths during lethal injection.
2 had sentences set aside by the courts due to trial attorney errors. 1 inmate was granted a stay while his innocence claim is reviewed. 1 case was sent back to a lower court to consider an appeal and in 1 unusual case, inmate William Boliek was granted a stay by Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan in 1997.
The case wasn't resolved before Carnahan died in a 2000 plane crash, and a court determined that only Carnahan could overturn the stay.
Nixon's office has said Boliek will not be executed.
Forrest becomes the 1st inmate to be put to death this year in Missouri and the 87th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1989. Forrest becomes the 14th inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1436th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (Sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin, 11/05/2016)
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