Governor Mike Parson today denied clemency to Russell Bucklew, who is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Bucklew’s lawyers argue killing him by lethal injection will be a torturous death due to a medical condition that causes blood-filled tumors to grow in his head, neck and throat. They say the tumors could rupture causing Bucklew to choke on his own blood.
Bucklew’s case made it all the way to the U-S Supreme Court, where his request for a different method of execution was rejected.
Bucklew was convicted of murder and rape.
This will be the first execution under the Parson administration, and Missouri’s first in roughly 3 years.
