Missouri prepares for first execution in 4 years

This May 13, 2009 photo released by the Missouri Department of Corrections shows Dennis Skillicorn 49, who is scheduled to die by injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at the Missouri prison in Bonne Terre.

[rcradtz]

Why did it take so long?

[Terry]

Did they send him to hell or did it somehow get delayed? I hope he's gone and suffered while it happened.

[Terry]

I did some checking and found that he was executed on schedule. One less scumbag to victimize the rest of us. His bleeding heart defenders tried to make him out to be a model citizen. Following is an excerpt from a news report:

"Death penalty opponents said Skillicorn had completely turned his life around by running a prison ministry and editing a magazine devoted to the writing and art of death row inmates. He has also raised college scholarship money for children of crime victims.

While on the state's death row, Skillicorn served as chairman of the hospice program at the Potosi Correctional Center, the prison where death row inmates are housed before being moved to Bonne Terre for execution. He co-founded a program that teaches inmates to be better parents. He compiled a book aimed at persuading juvenile offenders to turn their lives around.

Crime victim advocates point out victims are often forgotten when prisoners face execution.

Skillicorn's attorneys argued that the governor would not fairly consider Skillicorn's clemency plea because Nixon, as Missouri's attorney general, helped to set Skillicorn's execution date."