Earlier this evening, Missouri executed Walter “Arkie” Barton despite strong claims of innocence. He was the first person to be executed in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From the start, Walter’s case was marred by prosecutorial misconduct and an inadequate defense, with evidence so problematic that he was tried five times. Three jurors who voted to convict Walter at his last trial now say they would vote differently based on new evidence supporting his innocence.
These issues prompted a federal judge to grant a stay of execution on Friday, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit vacated the stay just two days later and both Missouri’s governor and the United States Supreme Court refused to intervene.
Since 1976, there have been 167 innocent people exonerated from death row — that means for every nine people executed in the U.S. in the modern era of the death penalty, one person on death row has been exonerated. It is unconscionable that this execution was allowed to go forward without a deep examination of Walter’s innocence.
The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. www.innocenceproject.org
