BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) – A Missouri inmate was executed Tuesday night for killing a man in a fit of rage over child support payments 16 years ago.
Andre Cole, 52, became the third convicted killer put to death this year in Missouri. His fate was sealed after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down several appeals, including one claiming Cole was mentally ill and unfit for execution.
Also Tuesday, Gov. Jay Nixon refused a clemency petition that raised concerns about the fact that Cole, who was black, was convicted and sentenced by an all-white jury.
Mike O’Connell, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections, said Cole was executed by lethal injection at 10:15 p.m. and pronounced dead nine minutes later.
Attorney General Chris Koster said in a statement he hoped “that the sentence carried out tonight brings those forever impacted by this tragedy a sense of justice and a measure of closure.”