Learn about the individuals currently on death row in Missouri and the ongoing debate surrounding capital punishment.
There are 10 people currently living under death sentences in Missouri, and 8 are eligible for execution. Below you can read information about them.
Information is listed: Last Name, First Name, County Sentenced, Race, Year Sentenced, Victim Information
1. Anderson, Terrance, Butler, Black, 2001, white male, white female#
2. Boliek, William, Camden, white, 1984 white female*
3. Collings, Christopher, Phelps, white, 2012, white female child
4. Emery, Richard, St. Charles County, white, 2022, 2 white females, 2 white children
5. Mathenia, Charles, Jefferson, white, 1985, 2 white females*
6. McFadden, Vincent, St. Louis County, Black, 2008, Black male, Black female
7. Pollard, Roosevelt, Cole, Black, 1986, white male*
8. Shockley, Lance, Carter, white, 2009, white male +
9. Williams, Marcellus, St. Louis County, Black, 2001, white female
10. Wood, Craig, Greene, white, 2018, white female child +
*Not eligible for execution.
+ Sentenced by a judge when a jury deadlocked.
# Sentenced as a teenager.
MISSOURI DEATH ROW EXONEREES
There have been four persons exoneration from Missouri’s death row since 1989 so far. These are the cases in which a person was wrongly convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of innocence.
Read More About Missouri Exonerees
MISSOURI EXECUTIONS SINCE 1976
There have been 97 executions committed by the state of Missouri since 1976 when the death penalty was reinstated in the United States.
WRONGFUL EXECUTIONS
Larry Griffin
The state of Missouri executed Larry Griffin on June 21, 1995. Griffin’s execution has been considered one of the top 5 most wrongful executions. He was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1981 shooting murder of Quintin Moss. Griffin maintained his innocence until the end.
There was no DNA evidence linking Griffin to the murder, and the 1981 conviction relied on the testimony of a single key eyewitness, Robert Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald had a reputation as a jailhouse snitch.
A 2005 report by University of Michigan Law School professor Sam Gross and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund found problems in the case. As reported by NBC News at the time:
“The first police officer at the scene of the 1980 shooting, Michael Ruggeri, now says that the story told by the supposed eyewitness was false, even though Ruggeri’s own testimony at trial supported what the witness said.
A second victim of the shooting, Wallace Conners, has said he was never contacted by the defense or the prosecution. Conners, now 52, who was wounded in the attack, said the supposed eyewitness was not present at the shooting.” An investigation by Gross and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund found Wallace Conners, the wounded man. He said he saw the gunman and that it was not Larry Griffin. Conners said he had never been interviewed by police.
Following the report, a coalition including Missouri House Representative William Lacy Clay, high-profile lawyers, and the victim’s family called for a re-investigation of the case to clear Larry Griffin’s name.
Jennifer Joyce, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney at the time, did re-open the case and in 2007, released a report that her investigators found a new witness, identified only as “Carl Doe,” who claimed he was with Fitzgerald at the scene of the shooting to buy drugs, not because Fitzgerald’s car broke down. The report also claimed, “Conners was interviewed by police three times within 36 hours of the shooting and said he could not identify the gunman.” However, Joyce’s credibility in these matters, given her history is questionable.
Larry Griffin is the uncle of Missouri Death Row Exoneree, Reginald “Reggie” Griffin.
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Missouri Death Row, Capital Punishment, Execution, Controversy, Justice System
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