Missouri Schedules First Execution During Coronavirus Pandemic
Missouri has scheduled the nation’s first execution on Tuesday, the first to be carried out since the Coronavirus pandemic. Barton’s execution will be the first in the U.S. since Alabama executed inmate Nate Woods on March 5.
However, three jurors who convicted Walter Barton in the 1991 murder of a mobile home operator have doubts about the conviction, per NBC News.
“It is a nightmare because the original case against Mr. Barton was a close one,” Walter’s lawyer, Frederick Duchardt Jr., told the Kansas Star. “It is a worse nightmare because the evidence, never heard by the jury who rendered judgment, undermines the key evidence used to convict.”
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Barton, 64, has been tried five times for the crime, claiming that he is innocent. However, the judges in his cases said that there was compelling evidence and that he knew the 80-year-old victim.
The MADPMO has also voiced its concern over the execution tweeting,
“Visitations have been halted in Missouri Correctional Facilities until June 18th, yet they plan to allow the scheduled #execution of #WalterBarton to move forward on May 19th. Walter is likely innocent. Peoples health and safety will be put at risk, just to make a spectacle.”
The Missouri Department of Corrections rep Karen Pojmann ensured that those involved will undergo temperature checks, and will be given face coverings. Barton’s family and friends will be able to attend, and witnesses will be divided into three rooms