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death row: 52 (as of January 1, 2009)

year of last executions: 0-0-0

death sentences: 0

executions: 0

situation:
The method of execution is injection. The prisoner can eventually choose gas. The sentence is determined by a jury. The death row is located at Mineral Point (Women: Fulton). As for the clemency process, the Governor has authority to grant clemency with nonbinding advice of Board of Pardons and Paroles.
On October 16, 2006, US District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. ruled for the second time that Missouri's death penalty procedures were unconstitutional. The ruling confirmed the judge's previous ruling in September that the death penalty protocol, which uses a three-drug lethal injection, could subject Missouri inmates to an unreasonable risk of cruel and unusual punishment. His earlier ruling halted all executions in Missouri.
Gaitan first ordered in June that the Missouri Department of Corrections make sweeping changes to its execution protocol. The issue is how painful lethal injection can be if the three drugs used are not given correctly.
In the ruling, Gaitan gave the state until October 27 to provide a revised protocol. But the state resubmitted the same proposal on October 6, arguing that it was constitutional and asking the judge to reconsider his decision. The state's attorneys had asked Gaitan to rule quickly, so they could file an appeal if he ruled against them. “The state's response does nothing to address these concerns and indicates its lack of willingness to even attempt to comply with the court's order,” Gaitan wrote in his latest ruling.