Ex-judges will try to halt Missouri execution of Mark Christeson

Attorneys for a condemned Missouri man and several former judges have filed an appeal asking the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution, saying a mistake by his former attorneys denied him his right to a federal court appeal.

Mark Christeson is scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for the killing a southern Missouri woman and her two children in 1998. He would be the ninth person put to death in Missouri this year.

Christeson’s attorneys and 15 former judges filed a brief Friday with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals claiming Christeson was denied federal court review because his court-appointed attorneys missed a deadline by four months in 2005.

The 8th Circuit refused the stay request, so the attorneys filed an appeal Monday with the Supreme Court.

This story was originally published October 27, 2014 at 10:23 AM with the headline "Ex-judges will try to halt Missouri execution of Mark Christeson."