On November 18, 1998 in Killeen, Denard Manns entered the Killeen home of a 26-year old Michelle Robson. He raped her and then shot her in the head and chest 5 times with a .22-caliber gun, leaving her body in the bathtub of her home. He then took credit cards and cash and fled in Christine's vehicle. Manns had been recently paroled from a New York state prison after his second conviction for armed robbery and was living with relatives two doors from the victim's apartment. There was no sign of forced entry. Christine Robson was a US Army Combat Medic with the 21st Combat Support Hospital at Ft. Hood. The evidence in the case was quite clear: Manns' fingerprint was found on the murder weapon, his DNA was found on Christine's bra, he had Christine's jacket and ring. In addition, he confessed to another inmate, telling him details that had not been made public and only the killer could have known. Manns said he got her jacket from a friend who had committed burglaries in the neighborhood, the jewelry from a drug addict, and also blamed his half-brother for the slaying. UPDATE: Denard Manns was given a stay of execution because his lawyer has been removed from his case. A new execution date has been set for November 13, 2008. Manns previously had an execution date set for January 2008 but it was set aside while the US Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of lethal injection.

On January 2, 1996, around 6:00 am in Kerrville, Jeffrey Lee Wood and his roommate Daniel Reneau robbed a Texaco service station, murdering their acquaintance Kriss Keeran, the service station attendant, in the process. Wood and the co-defendant took the store safe, a cash box, and a VCR containing a security tape. The value of cash and checks was estimated to be $11,350. During the course of the robbery, Reneau shot Kriss once in the face. Wood and Reneau fled to Wood's parents' home in Devine, Texas, where they attempted to open the safe with a sledge hammer and blow torch. Wood's sixteen-year-old brother, Jonathan Wood, asked how they had obtained the safe, and Wood explained that they had robbed the service station and killed the attendant. When Jonathan expressed his disbelief that they had committed murder, Wood played the surveillance video showing Reneau shoot the victim. Then, pursuant to Wood's instructions, Jonathan destroyed the video with a blow torch. Over Wood's objection that the State had not laid the proper predicate, Jonathan testified at trial concerning the contents of the tape: "Daniel walked into the store with a small pistol - well, fairly large, but he walked in and he pointed the gun at the dude and said something. It was blurry. I couldn't understand it, and the next thing I know was a shot and that the dude fell out of sight and he went around the back and then Jeff was out by the truck when the shot went off, but then he walked by the door . . . and looked through the glass and then he went in and he looked over the counter and after that he went back, too, and he just cut it off." Both were arrested within 24 hours. Wood led police to the murder weapon, which Reneau said had been taken by Wood in an earlier burglary. "I ended up giving a confession," Reneau said from death row. He did not testify at his trial. "I don't think it would have made any difference," he said. A jury took 15 minutes before returning with its guilty verdict for Reneau who said he thought at the time of the crime only treason or trying to kill the president or something similar would make one eligible for the death penalty. He thought Wood, for example, would end up with only about a five-year sentence. Reneau was executed for this crime in June of 2002. Reneau and Wood were tied to several previous burglaries where several guns were taken although Reneau denied any participation. While in jail, authorities learned the two were working on a plan to break out by killing a jailer. UPDATE: A federal judge has granted a request to delay the execution of condemned inmate Jeffery Wood, granting a request by Wood's attorneys to give them time to hire a mental health expert to pursue their arguments that he is incompetent to be executed.

This case arose from a shooting during an attempted robbery at the Charles Steak House in Oklahoma City in the early morning hours of May 14, 1996, where Joseph Sutton ran a gambling operation in a back room. Sometime after midnight on May 14, 1996, two African-American men, armed with guns, entered the Charles Steak House, and walked into the gaming room. Karl Robinson testified the taller man said "all you SOBs are going to die." George Edwards heard the same man say he was going to kill everyone. When Edwards saw the taller man pull a gun, Edwards grabbed the gun and held it in the air while the taller man fired it repeatedly until the gun was emptied. At this same time, the shorter of the two men pulled his gun, pointed it in the air and said "we come for the money." Joseph Sutton threw something on the floor, pulled his own gun, pointed it at the shorter man and tried to fire it, but a bullet was not chambered and the gun did not fire. The shorter man then fired on Sutton. Sutton was shot four times and died as a result of a gunshot wound to his abdomen. Quintin Battle, who was in between Sutton and the shorter gunman, was shot twice during the gunfire. Battle testified he dropped to the floor when the shooting began, because he feared he would be shot and killed. George Edwards suffered powder burns on his arms and face while struggling with the taller gunman. Both gunmen ran from the Charles Steak House after the shooting. One ran down North Lottie, away from the restaurant, holding his arm. Within minutes of the shooting, Kevin Young arrived at Presbyterian Hospital emergency room with three gunshot wounds. He told emergency personnel his name was "Roy Brown." He had a bullet in his left chest, another bullet wound to his right thigh, and a third grazing wound to his right shoulder. Hospital personnel reported the gunshot victim to the police. Officer Cook, who was responding to the Charles Steak House shooting, heard dispatch report a gunshot victim at Presbyterian Hospital. He went to the hospital and asked "Roy Brown" if he was at the Charles Steak House. Young told officer Cook he had not been there and said he was shot near a 7-11 convenience store and an Autozone store. Young told officer Cook he rode a bus to the hospital and did not know where he was shot because he was from out of state. Officer Cook testified he knew Metro Transit buses did not operate after midnight and he suspected "Roy Brown" had in fact been involved in the Charles Steak House shooting. He contacted officers at the shooting scene and asked if any witnesses there could identify the shooter. Young also spoke with Officer Smith at the hospital and gave him a different date of birth than he gave officer Cook. He told officer Smith he was shot near a 7-11 convenience store and an Autozone store, but said he did not know how he got to the hospital. Within 30 minutes of the shooting, Karl Robinson and Ben Griffin were brought separately to the hospital to see if they could identify the person in the emergency room. Karl Robinson saw Young lying on a gurney. Robinson was unsure whether Young was one of the gunmen until he saw Young's shirt on the floor. He told the officers the shirt looked the same. Robinson was unable to identify Young at the preliminary hearing, but positively identified Young at trial. Ben Griffin thought Young was one of the shooters and asked to see the shirt he was wearing. After he saw the shirt, he too affirmatively identified Young as one of the shooters. Griffin could not identify Young at preliminary hearing and did not try to identify him at trial. No weapons were recovered at the scene of the shooting. However, a .38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver containing six spent shell casings was found in a trash can about two blocks from Presbyterian Hospital. The woman who found the gun heard someone drop it in her curbside garbage can around 12:30 a.m. on May 14, 1996. Joseph Sutton's Sphinx .380 semiautomatic pistol was given to police officers by the owner of the restaurant a couple of days after the shooting. The owner obtained the gun from the restaurant manager who had hidden the gun and taken Joseph Sutton's wallet and money from his pockets immediately after the shooting. Police officers also recovered a .9mm handgun and $500.00 from a van belonging to Ben Griffin. Ballistics and firearms testing were done on the recovered weapons, projectiles and casings found at the scene and recovered from Joseph Sutton. Four full metal jacket bullets recovered from the shooting scene were .380 caliber and were determined to have been fired from Joseph Sutton's gun. Eight .380 caliber auto fired casings were found to be consistent with having been fired from Joseph Sutton's gun. Two lead projectiles found at the scene had insufficient markings for ballistics comparison. Two copper jacket projectiles could not have been fired from any gun recovered. One projectile found at the scene was consistent with having been fired from the .38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver that was found in the trash can. Two bullets recovered from Joseph Sutton were consistent with having been fired from the .38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver. All six casings found in the .38 caliber Smith and Wesson were positively identified as having been fired from that gun. Blood samples were collected from the shooting scene and were also taken from Joseph Sutton, Quintin Battle, the codefendant Antwuan Jackson, and from Young. Of three blood swabbings collected from the scene, one positively matched Joseph Sutton's blood sample, another did not match any known sample, and the third positively matched Young's blood sample. DNA testing confirmed a positive match of the blood sample collected from the shooting scene with Young's blood sample. Two DNA forensic chemists testified to the positive match, and one estimated the combined probability results of a match would occur in the African-American population only one in one hundred thirty-two million times (1:132,000,000). Around 6:30 a.m. on May 14, Young was released to Oklahoma City police custody. A bullet remained in his back left side, below his shoulder blades. Over a year later, Young saw the county jail doctor complaining of pain and drainage from where the bullet was embedded. The doctor prescribed antibiotics, but Young never returned to have the bullet removed. Dr. Jett, a surgeon, saw Young about four weeks later for the purpose of removing the bullet, and determined the bullet was no longer there. Dr. Jett testified a fresh wound was present where the bullet should have been. On May 22, 1996, Young and his co-defendant, Antwuan David Jackson, were each charged with Murder in the First Degree, Attempted Robbery with Firearms, and Shooting with Intent To Kill. Young and Jackson were tried separately, and Jackson was acquitted on all counts. A jury convicted Young on all three counts. During the second stage of the trial, the state sought the death penalty based on three aggravating factors: (1) Young had been previously convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to a person; (2) There was a strong probability that Young would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society; and (3) Young knowingly engaged in conduct that posed a great risk of death to multiple persons. Young stipulated that in 1991 he was convicted in California state court of shooting into an occupied vehicle, second degree robbery, and assault with a firearm. In support of the aggravating factors, the state relied on evidence it presented during the guilt stage of the trial, and presented a letter read by the victim's daughter as victim impact evidence. Young presented three witnesses in mitigation. Fredrick Smith, a record keeper for the county jail, testified that no disciplinary reports had been filed against Young during his two years of incarceration. Smith admitted, however, that he had never had any personal contact with Young, nor spoken with anyone who had. Next, Dr. Phillip Murphy testified that, based on tests he conducted on Young and his personal examination of the defendant, it was his opinion that Young did not pose a continuing threat to society if he remained in a structured prison environment. Finally, Young's sister, Linda McZeal, testified that Young had lived with her for most of his childhood, and that during that time he was an intelligent, caring, helpful, and well-behaved child. McZeal testified that after he left her home his problems began, and he started to run afoul of the law. The jury found unanimously that all three aggravating circumstances were present, and, after weighing them against the mitigating circumstances, recommended a death sentence on Count One. The jury also recommended sentencing Young to 20 years' imprisonment and 30 years' imprisonment for Counts Two and Three, respectively. The trial court adopted the jury's recommendations in full, and ordered that both terms of imprisonment would run consecutively to Count One. In July 2008, Kevin Young was granted a 30-day stay of execution so the governor can hear arguments for and against his death sentence. UPDATE: Gov. Brad Henry approved clemency for death row inmate Kevin Young. The governor commuted his sentence to life without the possibility of parole as recommended by the state Pardon and Parole Board. “This was a very difficult decision and one that I did not take lightly,” Henry said. “I am always reluctant to intervene in a capital case, and I am very respectful of a jury’s verdict, the prosecutors who tried the case and the victim’s family who suffered because of the crime. However, after reviewing all of the evidence and hearing from both prosecutors and defense attorneys, I decided the Pardon and Parole Board made a proper recommendation to provide clemency and commute the death sentence,” Henry said. The Pardon and Parole Board recommended clemency for Young. In testimony presented at the board’s clemency hearing, Young’s attorneys argued the shooting was not premeditated and did not merit a capital sentence. They said their client turned down a plea agreement in his original trial that would have given him a life sentence. Before making his decision, the governor reviewed Young’s case and personally interviewed both prosecutors and defense attorneys.

On August 24, 1994, Dennis Skillicorn, Allen L. Nicklasson, and Tim DeGraffenreid headed east from Kansas City to obtain illegal drugs. On August 23, 1994, during their return trip to Kansas City, the 1983 Chevrolet Caprice in which they were traveling broke down twenty-two miles east of the Kingdom City exit on I-70. An offer of assistance by a state trooper was refused. The following day, the trio had progressed only 17 miles to the JJ overpass approximately 5 miles east of Kingdom City. They burglarized a nearby home, stole some guns and money, and used the stolen money to pay for a tow to Kingdom City. A garage in Kingdom City was unable to repair the Caprice's extensive mechanical problems. The trio then drove the car back east toward the site of their earlier robbery. They stalled again on the south outer road east of Kingdom City. Between 4 and 5 p.m., Richard Drummond, a technical support supervisor for AT&T, saw the stranded motorists, stopped, and offered to take them to use a phone. He was driving a white, 1994 Dodge Intrepid, company car. Skillicorn and Allen Nicklasson were both armed. They loaded the booty from the Smith burglary into the trunk of Drummond's car. While Nicklasson held a gun to his head, Skillicorn asked Drummond, a married father of three, some questions in order to calm him down, including whether Drummond's "old lady" was going to miss him. As Drummond drove east, Skillicorn "got to thinking . . . if we let this guy off, he's got this car phone." So they disabled the car phone. Skillicorn stated that he later determined they would have to "lose" Drummond in the woods. At some point during this time, Nicklasson and Skillicorn discussed what they should do with Drummond. Skillicorn, in his sworn statement, claimed that Nicklasson said "he was going to, you know, do something to this guy. I tell him - you know, now, we're trying to talk on the pretenses that - that, uh, this guy in the front seat don't hear us too. Right? Right. 'Cause, uh, I didn't want him panicking." They directed Drummond to exit I-70 at the Highway T exit just east of Higginsville. They proceeded four miles onto County Road 202 to a secluded area where they ordered Drummond to stop his vehicle. As Nicklasson prepared to take Drummond through a field toward a wooded area, Skillicorn demanded Drummond's wallet. Knowing Nicklasson had no rope or other means by which to restrain Mr. Drummond and that Nicklasson carried a loaded .22 caliber pistol, Skillicorn watched as Nicklasson lead Mr. Drummond toward a wooded area. There, Nicklasson told Richard Drummond to say a prayer and shot him twice in the head. Skillicorn acknowledged hearing two shots from the woods and that Nicklasson returned having "already done what he had to do." Drummond's remains were found eight days later. Skillicorn and Nicklasson fled the state after Drummond’s slaying. They committed a string of house burglaries along the way, and attempted to steal a woman's purse at a grocery store in California. The jury heard audiotape of Skillicorn's confession to the FBI in San Diego, in which he recounted the following crimes. Three days after Richard Drummond's murder, the car they stole from him became stuck in the sand near Kingman, Arizona. The two men approached the house of Joseph Babcock, 47, and Charlene Babcock, 38. As in the case of RIchard Drummond's murder, Mr. and Mrs. Babcock offered assistance to Skillicorn and Nicklasson and they were murdered. After Joseph Babcock attempted unsuccessfully to pull Richard Drummond's company car out of the sand, Nicklasson shot and killed him. Skillicorn and Nicklasson then returned to the Babcock home in Joseph Babcock's truck, where Nicklasson killed Charlene Babcock in a similar fashion. Later, while in Mexico, Skillicorn pulled his handgun on a woman operating a diner where the two men were eating. Unfortunately, the woman did not understand Skillicorn's demands for money. Nicklasson then shot and killed the woman. After returning to the United States, Skillicorn and Nicklasson were captured. In 1998, Skillicorn pleaded guilty to those murders. Skillicorn also was involved in the murder of Paul J. Hines outside a truck stop in Elko, Nevada. Skillicorn also discussed with police the murder of the woman in Mexico, but this case has not resulted in charges. Additionally, in 1980, Skillicorn had been convicted of second degree murder in the death of Wendell Howell. He served 13 years for that killing and was on parole. UPDATE: On August 20, the Missouri Supreme Court issue a stay because of Skillicorn's claim that his federally-appointed clemency attorney has not had enough time to prepare a thorough clemency petition to send to the governor. Another execution date would have to be set at least 30 days from the August 27 date.