Missouri to execute man whose death sentence was overturned three times
A federal judge has called the sentencing process ‘fundamentally unfair’
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Missouri is set to execute a man in May whose death sentence was overturned three previous times, after the state Supreme Court upheld the punishment on Monday.
Carman Deck was first sentenced to death in 1998 for the murders of an elderly couple, James and Zelma Long, during a home robbery in De Soto, Missouri. Deck entered their home alongside his sister and shot the couple execution-style, after posing as someone asking for directions.
The Missouri Supreme Court tossed his first death sentence, arguing his trial lawyer had made errors. The US Supreme Court struck down his second death sentence, handed down in 2005, arguing that the proceedings were unfairly tainted by Deck being displayed in shackles during the trial.
He was sentenced a third time in 2008, but the appeals process continued for another decade, and a federal judge in 2017 found that the punishment was “fundamentally unfair from even before it began,” arguing that key witnesses were either missing or dead by that point.
US District Judge Catherine Perry added that Deck’s lawyers were “ineffective” for not raining a constitutional challenge to the long wait in proceeding with the case.
However, in October of 2020, the US 8th Circuit Court of Appeals restored Deck’s execution, finding that he should’ve raised his appeals in state rather than federal court.
Deck’s lawyer, Elizabeth Unger Carlyle, says the man has an intellectual disability and that they plan to appeal the execution order. Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, an advocacy group, says it is at work on a clemency petition.
Linda Davis, a daughter-in-law of the Long family, says she is glad the execution is going forward.
“We were all very pleased with the decision,” she told the Jefferson Counter Leader last year, when the execution was reinstated. “It’s been a long time coming and we hope it progresses in the court system. It’s a long time coming.”
Michael Zoosman, an interfaith chaplain and opponent of the death penalty, said on Twitter on Tuesday the execution is an “abomination.”
“This is an ABOMINATION! Missouri can do BETTER!” he wrote.
The Independent and the nonprofit Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ) have launched a joint campaign calling for an end to the death penalty in the US. The RBIJ has attracted more than 150 well-known signatories to their Business Leaders Declaration Against the Death Penalty - with The Independent as the latest on the list. We join high-profile executives like Ariana Huffington, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson as part of this initiative and are making a pledge to highlight the injustices of the death penalty in our coverage.