April 27 MISSOURI----execution Man is executed for '93 slaying Donald Jones was executed early today for murdering his grandmother 12 years ago in St. Louis because she wouldn't give him money for drugs. Jones, 38, was pronounced dead at 12:07 a.m. in the new death chamber at a 2-year-old state prison in this city 60 miles south of St. Louis. He had visited with his family and friends Tuesday while his final appeals were denied. Some of his relatives watched through windows from an adjoining room as the lethal drugs were administered. Jones looked toward them and appeared to speak to them before he lost consciousness. Weeping could be heard from the family area. Jones was condemned for beating Dorothy Knuckles, 68, with a butcher block and stabbing her repeatedly in her home in the 3700 block of Cozens Avenue in St. Louis on March 6, 1993. He later loaned her Chevrolet for two rocks of cocaine. On Tuesday morning, Gov. Matt Blunt denied a request by Jones' family to reduce the sentence to life in prison. That evening, the federal appeals court in St. Louis and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his petitions, clearing the way for his execution. Jones, in a telephone interview from the prison Tuesday evening, said he had his family's forgiveness and was prepared to die. "I'm proud to be part of such a beautiful Christian family," Jones said. "I know I have never forgiven myself and have struggled daily . . . (God) has revealed His ways and we must accept it and give God the praise. I am good with that." Jones said he wasn't surprised by Blunt's decision. "I was hoping and praying that the governor would spare my family any more pain, but he doesn't see it that way or simply doesn't care," Jones said. "It's unfortunate that politics and this sentence always find themselves intertwined." Jones was the 63rd man to be executed by Missouri since the state resumed carrying out the punishment in 1989. He was the 1st to be put to death in the new state prison in Bonne Terre, which was built with a death chamber to replace the one used for 61 executions in the Potosi Correctional Center. (One was carried out in the old Jefferson City penitentiary.) On Tuesday morning, Jones learned of Blunt's decision. Jones' family and the Missouri Catholic Conference had asked the governor to use his executive power to reduce the sentence to life in prison. The state Board of Probation and Parole voted 5-2 to recommend that he spare Jones, but Blunt told reporters in Jefferson City that "the execution needs to go forward. It's in the best interests of our state's justice system." The governor's decision left Jones with petitions that the U.S. Supreme Court reconsider his case or declare Missouri's system of lethal injection as unconstitutionally cruel. But the courts turned him down. In pleading with the governor to spare Jones, Matthew Knuckles, an uncle who also is a Rock Hill alderman, said the family already had suffered enough. Blunt described the family as "decent people who have my sympathy. "We don't have the death penalty so families can feel a sense of vengeance," Blunt said. "We have the death penalty because we believe as a society, we believe as a state, we believes as a people that some crimes are so horrific that the only appropriate punishment is the death penalty." Jones' lawyers criticized the governor's decision. "The victims here have always said they never wanted the death penalty, and here their wishes are being ignored again," said William Swift, a special public defender in Columbia, Mo. "When people talk about justice, they often talk about what the victims want. I believe that justice here would be in recognizing the family's wishes." The 2-year-old prison in Bonne Terre is known as Eastern Reception Diagnostic and Correctional Center. Almost 2 weeks ago, officers moved Jones there from Potosi, about 15 miles away, where he had been an inmate since shortly after his conviction. Jones was the second condemned man whose execution was set by the Missouri Supreme Court under Blunt's administration. In March, Blunt allowed the execution of Stanley Hall, 37, who had kidnapped and thrown Barbara Jo Wood of south St. Louis County into the icy Mississippi River in 1994. The probation board had recommended in a 4-3 vote that Blunt reduce Hall's sentence to life in prison. The probation board does not discuss its recommendations. There are 53 men under death sentence in Missouri, all of whom are held at the prison in Potosi. Jones becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Missouri. Only Texas (341), Virginia (94), and Oklahoma (76) have put more condemned inmates to death since the death penalty was re-legalized in the USA on July 2, 1976. Jones becomes the 17th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 961st overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (sources: St. Louis Post-Dispatch & Rick Halperin) IOWA: GOP leaders demand death penalty vote Republican leaders in the Iowa Senate demanded a vote on reinstatement of the death penalty Tuesday and turned up the political heat on a top Democrat who has vowed to block any debate on the issue. But Democrats fired back, accusing the GOPs leading death penalty proponent, Sen. Larry McKibben, Marshalltown, of flip-flopping on the issue. They distributed a 2004 voter guide created by the Iowa Catholic Conference listing McKibben as a supporter of "maintaining Iowa's status as a no death penalty state." The voter guide was compiled from questionnaires filled out by McKibben and other legislative candidates. "Apparently his core values have changed. Mine have not. I believe the death penalty is wrong," said Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs. He has vowed to block a death penalty debate in the Senate. McKibben said the voter guide "correctly reflected" his opinion at the time. But he insists the kidnapping, murder and rape last month of a 10-year-old Cedar Rapids girl, Jetseta Gage, changed his mind. A convicted sex offender is charged in her death. Republican leaders want a "limited" death penalty applied only to cases involving the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of a victim under 18. Under current Iowa law, those offenders would face life imprisonment without parole. But Republicans argue that current law provides no extra penalty for kidnappers or rapists who choose to kill their victims in an effort to cover up the crime. Backers want to attach the death penalty to a broader bill creating tougher penalties and tighter monitoring measures for sex offenders. A power-sharing agreement gives Gronstal the power to halt debate on any measure. The Democrat plans to exercise that power if Republicans bring up the death penalty. Even if a death penalty measure survived the Senate and House, Gov. Tom Vilsack said Tuesday he would not sign it. (source: Quad-City Times)
