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USA - Missouri. Brian Dorsey, 52, White, was executed
April 9, 2024: April 9, 2024 - Missouri. Brian Dorsey, 52, White, was executed.
He was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after a single-dose injection of pentobarbital at the state prison in Bonne Terre
Dorsey took a few deep breaths as the drug was injected, then several shallow, quick breaths. At one point he raised his head from the pillow and blinked hard. After several seconds, all movement stopped. A spiritual adviser seated next to the gurney continued to speak. It was unclear what he was saying — the room is soundproof.
Karen Pojmann, a spokesperson for the department, said that the execution “went smoothly, no problems.”
Dorsey was convicted in 2008 (see HoC November 10, 2008) of killing his cousin Sarah Bonnie and her husband, Benjamin Bonnie, on Dec. 23, 2006, at their home. Prosecutors said that earlier that day, Dorsey had called Sarah Bonnie seeking to borrow money to pay two drug dealers who were at his apartment.
Dorsey went to the Bonnies’ home that night. After they went to bed, Dorsey took a shotgun from the garage and killed both of them before sexually assaulting Sarah Bonnie’s body, prosecutors said. Police said Dorsey stole several items from the home and tried to pay off a drug debt with some of the stolen goods.
A day after the killings, Sarah Bonnie’s parents went to check on the Bonnies after they had failed to show up for a family gathering. They found the couple’s 4-year-old daughter on the couch watching TV. She told her grandparents that her mother “won’t wake up.” Dorsey surrendered to police Dec. 26 of that year.
Dorsey, in a final statement, expressed remorse and sorrow for the killings.
“Words cannot hold the just weight of my guilt and shame,” Dorsey said in the written statement.
About 85 protesters gathered outside the prison in support of Dorsey.
Hours before the execution, the Supreme Court turned aside both of Dorsey’s appeals without comment. His lawyers had urged the high court to step in, saying he had shown good behavior in prison and had been rehabilitated. They also argued a $12,000 flat fee paid to his two public defenders gave them incentive to hurry through the case. On their recommendation, Dorsey pleaded guilty despite having no agreement with prosecutors to spare him from the death penalty.
On Monday, Republican Gov. Mike Parson denied a clemency request that included signatures from 72 current and former state corrections officers who urged the governor to commute Dorsey’s sentence to life in prison without parole. They cited Dorsey’s virtually spotless record of good behavior behind bars. Parson, a Republican, is a former county sheriff. He has never granted clemency since taking office in 2018.
Dorsey becomes the 1st person executed in Missouri this year, the 98th since Missouri resumed executions in 1989, the 5th prisoner executed in the U.S. this year, and the 1,587th overall since the country resumed executions in 1977.
https://apnews.com/article/missouri-execution-brian-dorsey-1a7801bb6fc42e666d95daa68a2b2ce1 (Source: AP, 09/04/2024)
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