Appeals court grants hearing for Missouri inmate facing execution
A Missouri prison inmate scheduled to be executed later this month has been granted a court hearing to argue that he was “abandoned” by his former lawyers.
Mark Christeson is scheduled to be put to death on Jan. 31 for the 1999 killings of a woman and her two children near Rolla.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ordered a federal judge to “convene promptly a limited evidentiary hearing on the question of abandonment.”
Christeson, 37, is alleging that attorneys appointed to represent him more than a decade ago abandoned him after missing a deadline to file his appeal.
Attorneys for the state of Missouri argued that a mistake or negligence by his attorneys was not abandonment.
In Wednesday’s order, the court of appeals said it was prudent to allow the hearing for Christeson so a decision on whether he was abandoned could be “based on a more complete understanding of the facts.”
Tony Rizzo: 816-234-4435, @trizzkc
This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 11:35 AM with the headline "Appeals court grants hearing for Missouri inmate facing execution."