Man’s execution date set by Missouri Supreme Court, third scheduled execution this year

The Missouri Supreme Court has set an execution date for a man convicted in a double murder in Randolph County.

Michael Andrew Tisius, 42, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on June 6.

Two people have been executed in Missouri so far this year. Amber McLaughlin, 49, the first openly transgender woman, died Jan. 3. Leonard “Raheem” Taylor, 58, who maintained his innocence in a quadruple killing, was executed Feb. 7.

Larry Komp, an attorney for Tisius, said they are making a determination on legal remedies to pursue and also plan to prepare a clemency petition that will be sent to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson.

“We are profoundly saddened at the setting of the date,” Komp said in a statement Wednesday. “The legal challenge that was presented to the Missouri Supreme Court was overwhelmingly supported by science and uncontradicted experts. We are disappointed that a legal claim supported by so much was denied by a check the box order.”

Tisius was convicted in the deaths of Jason Acton and Leon Egley. The Randolph County jailers were fatally shot on June 22, 2000, in a failed effort to free another prisoner, according to The Star’s archives. The trial took place in Boone County.

Tisius was 19 at the time of the homicides.

Last month, Tisius’ legal team argued that he “lacked an adult capacity to make reasonable judgments.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled several times that juveniles lack maturity because their brains are not fully developed and therefore should not face the same punishments as adults.

Missouri is one of five states with executions scheduled this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Michelle Smith, co-director of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, said, “We’re in an era in Missouri where they just want to continue unabatedly murdering people when we have other things we can do, including incarceration, including rehabilitation.”

This story was originally published March 1, 2023 at 3:01 PM.

Katie Moore

The Kansas City Star

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Katie Moore was an enterprise and accountability reporter for The Star. She covered justice issues, including policing, prison conditions and the death penalty. She is a University of Kansas graduate and began her career as a reporter in 2015 in her hometown of Topeka, Kansas.