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Missouri GOP Gov. Mike Parson has denied clemency to Brian Dorsey, who is slated for execution on Tuesday for the 2006 murder of his cousin and her husband, The Hill reported.
Dorsey, 52, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2008 after pleading guilty to killing his cousin Sarah Bonnie and her husband Ben Bonnie in central Missouri.
“Brian Dorsey punished his loving family for helping him in a time of need. Dorsey repaid them with cruelty, inhumane violence, and murder,” Parson stated in a press release on Monday.
“Dorsey murdered his cousin, Sarah Bonnie, and her husband, Ben Bonnie, in the middle of the night after they rescued Dorsey from drug dealers attempting to collect debts at Dorsey’s apartment earlier in the day,” the press release added. “After he murdered them, Dorsey raped Sarah’s corpse as the Bonnies’ now-orphaned, four-year-old daughter slept in another room. Numerous jurors and courts have determined the judgment Dorsey received is an appropriate and legal sentence for his heinous crimes.”
Parson’s decision to proceed with Dorsey’s execution follows a clemency application filed by his legal team. The application highlighted Dorsey’s “extraordinary rehabilitation” behind bars, his mental state on the night of the murders, and claims of inadequate legal representation during trial, as reported by CNN.
The application garnered support from over 150 signatories, including corrections employees, jurors, state representatives, and the former Missouri Supreme Court justice who upheld his death sentence, Michael Wolff. They urged the governor to commute Dorsey’s sentence to life without parole, according to The Kansas City Star.
Megan Crane, an attorney for Dorsey, expressed devastation over the governor’s choice. “Governor Parson has chosen to ignore the wealth of information before him showing that Brian Dorsey is uniquely deserving of mercy,” Crane stated.
She added, “Brian has spent every day of his time in prison trying to make amends for his crime.”
Missouri, according to information from the Death Penalty Information Center, will become the fourth state this year to execute an individual if Dorsey’s scheduled execution proceeds as planned.
The execution is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday and will be conducted by lethal injection under the state’s execution protocol.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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