Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty

9/3/08 Middleton's execution stayed!

The Missouri Supreme Court has issued a stay on Middleton's September 17th execution date. No new date has been set. News coverage: 9/4/08: Trenton Republican Times

Execution date history for John Middleton

7/22/08 New Execution Date set:
The Missouri Supreme Court has set a September 17th execution date for John Middleton.

7/11/08 Execution Stayed:
On July 11th the Missouri Supreme Court stayed the execution of John Middleton who was scheduled to be killed by lethal injection July 30th.

6/28/08 Execution Alert:
The State of Missouri has issued that John Middleton be poisoned by lethal injection on July 30th, 2008.

The Case:

Troubling facts of Middleton's case:
- Middleton was abused as a child. The Jury never heard of his abusive, drunk father or drug-addicted mother, information that could have made the difference between a life or death sentence.
- Middleton is developmentally disabled. He spent several years in Special Education and test scores indicate he is borderline mentally retarded.
- The prosecution relied heavily on the word of other established criminals to get a conviction. One witness the prosecution used was a jailhouse snitch, who suffered from bipolar disorder and who was found not guilty of another charge by reason of insanity.
- A complete summary of John's case is available at www.moabolition.org/middletonsummary.php