Missouri's governor on Monday denied clemency for Christopher Collings, a death row inmate facing execution for sexually assaulting and killing a 9-year-old.
, a death row inmate facing execution for sexually assaulting and killing a 9-year-old girl and leaving her body in a sinkhole.
Parson’s decision likely sealed Collings’ fate. Earlier Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal on behalf of Collings, without comment. No additional appeals are planned, Collings' attorney, Jeremy Weis, said. Collings confessed to killing Rowan, a child who referred to him as “Uncle Chris” after Collings lived for several months with the girl’s family in tiny Stella, Missouri. Rowan was killed on Nov. 3, 2007. Her body was found in a sinkhole outside of town six days later. She had been strangled.
The petition also challenged the fairness of executing Collings when another man charged in the crime, Rowan’s stepfather, David Spears, also confessed but was allowed to plead to lesser crimes. Spears served more than seven years in prison before his release in 2015. Spears also implicated himself in the crimes, according to court documents and the clemency petition. A transcript of Spears’ statement to police, cited in the petition, said he told police that Collings handed him a cord and that he killed Rowan.
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