The state’s attorney general balked, arguing that Williams was trying to usurp the governor’s independent clemency powers. The AG has asked the Missouri Supreme Court to toss the lawsuit — and clear the way for Williams’s execution.
Interesting way to understand “clemency”.
In 1997, then-Gov. Mel Carnahan stayed the execution of William Boliek, who had been sentenced to die for murdering a witness to a robbery in Kansas City, and ordered a board of inquiry to look into the case. The board submitted its report to Carnahan, but the governor did not act on it before he was killed in a plane crash — meaning the case was never resolved. The Missouri Supreme Court subsequently ruled that Carnahan was the only one who could lift the stay, meaning Boliek could never be executed. He remains on Missouri’s death row.
WTF…
Brought to you by the state that made it functionally illegal for local police departments to work with federal authorities on cases of gun violence.
And even better, Missouri legalized gerrymandering a few years ago, so the likelihood of it ever getting better is very unlikely.
