Supreme court rules Missouri prisoner's death penalty appeal should be heard
|
Version 0 of 1. The supreme court has said that the appeal for Mark Christeson, a Missouri man sentenced to death for the murder of a woman and her two children in 1998, should be heard. In 2005, Christeson’s attorneys missed a deadline to apply for an appeal before a federal court – by nearly four months. A second appeal, which challenged the planned use of a made-to-order execution drug, was denied by the high court of Missouri. Related: Former judges call on Missouri to stay execution of inmate 'abandoned' by lawyers Christeson was scheduled to be killed by lethal injection in October 2014, but the supreme court stayed the execution while it considered whether to grant another chance at appeal. In 1999, Christeson was found guilty of the rape and murder of Susan Brouk and the murders of her 12-year-old daughter, Adrian, and nine-year-old son, Kyle. Christeson’s 17-year-old cousin Carter, then 17, was also implicated in the murders, but was spared the death sentence after he agreed to give evidence for the prosecution against his relative. After stealing Brouk’s car, the two drove to California, selling her belongings along the way. They were arrested eight days later. An attorney for Christeson did not respond to a request for comment. |