Execution Moratorium Sought by ACLU of Missouri & Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org

ST. LOUIS – Today the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and the Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty sent a joint letter asking Gov. Jay Nixon to enact a moratorium on executions, pending a full investigation into execution protocols. A copy of the letter can be found on the ACLU of Missouri’s website.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri has brought several lawsuits against the Missouri Department of Corrections in an effort to determine the source of the drugs used, as well as the execution protocol in general. “We cannot trust the government to mete out the ultimate punishment when the process is shrouded in secrecy,” says Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Missouri. “It is time to investigate our execution protocol, before Missouri repeats the cruel and torturous executions that happened in Oklahoma on Tuesday and in Ohio in January.”

“A botched Missouri execution can happen as early as May 21,” explains Rita Linhardt, chair of the Board for Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. “Russell Bucklew has a rare health condition that makes it likely he would experience a prolonged, excruciating death because the drugs may not flow properly in his blood vessels, which can easily rupture.”

The ACLU of Missouri is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization dedicated to defending and expanding the constitutional rights and civil liberties of all Missourians guaranteed by the U.S. and Missouri Constitutions, and is an affiliate of the national ACLU.

The Missourian for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the use of the death penalty in the state of Missouri.