ST. LOUIS (AP) — Attorneys for a Missouri man scheduled to be executed next week have asked Gov. Jay Nixon to grant clemency, citing concerns about the role race played in Leon Taylor's death sentence.
The state plans to execute Taylor at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for killing an Independence, Missouri, gas station attendant in 1994. He would be the ninth man put to death in Missouri this year and the 11th since November 2013.
Attorneys for Taylor say his sentence should be commuted to life in prison without parole, saying Taylor, who is black, was sentenced by an all-white jury. They also raise concern about prosecutor misconduct during his trial.
