Missouri Supreme Court declines to halt execution of a man who killed 2 in 2006

The Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to halt the execution of Brian Dorsey, who is scheduled to die next month for killing his cousin and her husband 18 years ago.

Judge W. Brent Powell wrote in the unanimous decision that Dorsey “has not demonstrated he is actually innocent” of the killing. Powell also wrote that the state Supreme Court previously turned aside Dorsey’s claim that his trial lawyer was ineffective, and he is barred from raising that claim again.

Dorsey’s attorney, Megan Crane, said he would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The Missouri Supreme Court’s refusal today to even consider the merits of the Brian’s Dorsey’s critical Sixth Amendment constitutional claim — that his lawyers pleaded their client guilty for no benefit, with the death penalty still on the table, without conducting any investigation, as a result of the low flat fee they were paid by the Missouri Public Defender System — is yet another example of how our legal system has failed him,” Crane said in a statement. “We will appeal to the United States Supreme Court and ask that Governor Parson consider this injustice in our plea for mercy for Brian.”

Dorsey is scheduled to die by injection at 6 p.m. April 9 at the state prison in Bonne Terre. It would be Missouri’s first execution in 2024 after four people were put to death last year. Another Missouri inmate, David Hosier, faces execution June 11 for killing a Jefferson City woman in 2009.

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