Missouri man facing execution appeals to U.S. Supreme Court, saying he is rehabilitated
A Missouri man has filed a second request with the U.S. Supreme Court, saying his execution Tuesday violates his constitutional rights because he has undergone “remarkable redemption.”
The death warrant for Brian Dorsey, 52, goes into effect at 6 p.m. That’s when the execution staff can begin implementing the protocols leading up to Dorsey’s death.
Assistant federal public defenders representing Dorsey and seeking to halt that process filed a 41-page petition saying he “belongs to a unique class of persons sentenced to death.”
Dorsey, who has been on death row for more than 17 years, has not had an infraction in prison and lived in the honor dorm. He also served as the prison barber, where he was trusted with sharp tools and cut hair for staff and prisoners.
“When a death-sentenced person has spent years on death row with this kind of record, the penological goal of rehabilitation has been satisfied and the capital punishment goals of retribution and deterrence are not met by an execution,” the petition said.
In a rare move, more than 70 Missouri Department of Corrections staff members signed onto a letter saying they support commuting his sentence to life without parole.
Dorsey was convicted in 1996 of shooting his cousin Sarah Bonnie and her husband Ben Bonnie. Their bodies were found in their home in New Bloomfield, in central Missouri, the Associated Press reported at the time.
When he found out police were looking for him, Dorsey turned himself in.
In December, the Missouri Supreme Court announced it had scheduled Dorsey’s execution. Since then, his legal team has argued that Dorsey should not have faced first-degree murder charges because he was in a drug induced psychosis at the time of the killings. They also said the DOC’s acting director was not qualified to oversee an execution. Those cases have failed in the courts.
Attorneys for Dorsey also objected to the DOC’s execution protocols, which allow the use of a “cut down.” The procedure involves cutting into the person to set an IV line. If the team had to use that procedure, Dorsey would be prevented “from having any meaningful spiritual discussion or participation in his last religious rites with his spiritual advisor,” his attorneys said.
A joint motion to dismiss that case was filed Friday in federal court.
“The Missouri Department of Corrections has agreed to resolve Mr. Dorsey’s challenge to the lethal injection protocol by adding safeguards that will reduce the risk of undue pain and suffering and protect Mr. Dorsey’s right to engage in prayer and last rites with his spiritual advisor during the execution process,” attorney Arin Brenner said in a statement to The Star.
Last week, Dorsey’s legal team also filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing his trial attorneys provided “grossly deficient representation in a capital case.”
Dorsey was appointed two trial attorneys through the Missouri State Public Defender, who were each paid a flat fee of $12,000. That payment structure, his current attorneys argue, pits the lawyers’ interest in doing no more than what is minimally necessary to qualify for the payment with the client’s best interests.
The two attorneys did not do an investigation and allowed Dorsey to plead guilty while the death penalty remained on the table.
A clemency application was also sent to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s office, and a decision is expected later Monday. Parson has not granted clemency to anyone on death row since he took office in 2018.
