A Missouri inmate has been executed for killing a man in 1996 in a string of violence that included several other crimes, despite concerns that the prisoner’s rare medical condition would cause a gruesome lethal injection.
Russell Bucklew was executed at the state prison in Bonne Terre on Tuesday, Oct. 1. It was Missouri’s first execution since January 2017.
Bucklew looked around and twitched his feet beneath the sheet as he lay on the gurney just before the lethal injection. He suddenly took a deep breath and all movement stopped. There were no outward signs of distress.
Before his execution on Tuesday, Bucklew ate his last meal, which was gyro sandwich, a smoked brisket sandwich, french fries, soda, and a banana split, KFVS reported.
Bucklew had twice previously been within hours of execution, only to have the Supreme Court grant last-minute reprieves over concerns that Bucklew might suffer during the execution process. The Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for the execution in April.
Bucklew had a condition called cavernous hemangioma and had blood-filled tumors in his head, neck and throat. His attorneys said in the clemency request to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson that if one of the throat tumors burst, Bucklew could suffer an excruciatingly painful death.
Parson early Tuesday denied his clemency request just hours before the scheduled execution.
Bucklew killed Michael Sanders in March 1996, raped his former girlfriend, shot a state trooper and, after escaping from jail, attacked his ex-girlfriend’s mother and her boyfriend with a hammer.
Bucklew’s girlfriend, Stephanie Ray, left him on Valentine’s Day 1996. Over the next few weeks, court records show Bucklew harassed her, cut her with a knife, and punched her in the face. Ray feared for her life and the lives of her children, so she moved into the Cape Girardeau County mobile home that her new boyfriend, Michael Sanders, shared with his children.
On March 21, after stealing his nephew’s car and taking two pistols, handcuffs and duct tape from his brother, Bucklew followed Ray to Sanders’ home. Sanders confronted Bucklew with a shotgun inside the house. Bucklew fired two shots, one piercing Sanders’ lung. He bled to death.
Bucklew then shot at Sanders’ 6-year-old son and missed. Court records say he struck Ray in the face with the pistol, handcuffed her and dragged her to his car. He later raped Ray before heading north on Interstate 55.
A trooper spotted Bucklew’s car and eventually became engaged in a gunfight near St. Louis. Both men were wounded. Bucklew later escaped from the Cape Girardeau County Jail. He attacked Ray’s mother and her boyfriend with a hammer before being recaptured.
