ST. LOUIS (AP) – Attorneys for a condemned Missouri man and several former judges have filed an appeal asking the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution, saying a mistake by his former attorneys denied him his right to a federal court appeal.
Mark Christeson is scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for the killing a southern Missouri woman and her two children in 1998. He would be the ninth person put to death in Missouri this year.
Christeson’s attorneys and 15 former judges filed a brief Friday with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals claiming Christeson was denied federal court review because his court-appointed attorneys missed a deadline by four months in 2005.
The 8th Circuit refused the stay request, so the attorneys filed an appeal Monday with the Supreme Court.