A Missouri inmate was executed Tuesday night for killing a man in a fit of rage over child support payments in 1998. The 52-year-old inmate, Andre Cole, became the third convicted murderer to be sentenced to death in Missouri this year.
The U.S. Supreme Court sealed the deal after rejecting a few appeals, including one claim that he was not fit for execution due to a mental illness. Cole’s attorney claimed that his mental health had deteriorated while in prison and he suffered from psychosis.
However, the courts were not convinced. Judge Laura Denver Stith said that after reviewing all of the evidence, Cole “failed to show he is incompetent to be executed,” according to CBS News.
Also, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon dismissed concerns and denied a clemency petition regarding the issue that Cole was a black man sentenced by an all-white jury. The American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP and other advocates for Cole said the his case was one of many in which St. Louis County prosecutors denied black jurors from hearing a death penalty case with a black suspect.
A spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections, Mike O’Connell, stated that Cole was executed by lethal injection at 10:15 p.m. Officials pronounced him dead at 10:24 p.m., according to Sacramento Bee.
Cole did not give a final statement before his execution. Relatives blew kisses to him, and he nodded back. Attorney General Chris Koster said in a statement that he hoped the sentence would bring “a measure of closure” and “a sense of justice” to those who were affected by the incident.
According to court documents, Cole had threatened to kill his former wife, Terri, over child support issues in 1998. He was $3,000 behind on his payments and became angry when a payroll withholding order was given to his employer.
After his first paycheck with a deduction was received, Cole broke into his ex-wife’s home by throwing a tire jack through a glass door, according to Koster. He proceeded to stab his ex-wife and a man who was inside. Terri survived the stabbing, but the man who was visiting, Anthony Curtis, did not survive.
