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\nRussell Bucklew’s unusual medical condition is grave enough to halt his execution, his lawyers say. (ACLU)<\/p>\n
\nRussell Bucklew’s unusual medical condition is grave enough to halt his execution, his lawyers say. (ACLU)<\/p>\n
Mr. Bucklew has earned a cell in Missouri’s Death Row, and has a well deserved reservation on the gurney for a lethal dose of pentobarbital.
\nBut wait, his lawyers say- because of his medical condition,cavernous hemangioma, the act of execution may cause one of his blood filled tumors to burst, causing him excruciating pain expressed as “…choking on his own blood.”
\nWell, that certainly sounds like a horrific way to go. How did
\nMr. Bucklew get into this predicament? Read on.<\/p>\n
Fox News Staff<\/strong><\/p>\n The fate of a convicted killer in Missouri inmate rests with Gov. Mike Parson, who must decide if the risk posed by Russell Bucklew’s unusual medical condition is grave enough to halt his execution.<\/p>\n Bucklew, 51, is scheduled to be put to death Tuesday evening for killing a man during a 1996 crime spree that started with his girlfriend breaking up with him on Valentine’s Day.<\/p>\n He suffers from cavernous hemangioma. The rare disease causes blood-filled tumors in his head, neck and throat. A permanent tracheostomy in his throat helps him breathe. His attorneys say in the clemency request that if one of the throat tumors bursts, Bucklew could suffer an excruciatingly painful death.<\/p>\n “These unstable tumors are highly likely to hemorrhage during the stress of the execution, causing Russell to cough and choke on his own blood,” the clemency request states.<\/p>\n Bucklew’s girlfriend, Stephanie Ray, left him on Valentine’s Day in 1996. Over the next few weeks, according to court records, he harassed her, cut her with a knife and punched her in the face. Ray feared for her life and the lives of her children, so she moved into the Cape Girardeau County mobile home that her new boyfriend, Michael Sanders, shared with his children.<\/p>\n On March 21, after stealing his nephew’s car and taking two pistols, handcuffs and duct tape from his brother, Bucklew followed Ray to Sanders’ home. Sanders confronted Bucklew with a shotgun inside the home. Bucklew fired two shots, one piercing Sanders’ lung. He bled to death.<\/p>\n Bucklew then shot at Sanders’ 6-year-old son and missed. Court records say he struck Ray in the face with the pistol, handcuffed her and dragged her to his car. He later raped Ray before heading north on Interstate 55.<\/p>\n A trooper spotted Bucklew’s car and eventually became engaged in a gunfight near St. Louis. Both men were wounded. Bucklew later escaped from the Cape Girardeau County Jail. He attacked Ray’s mother and her boyfriend with a hammer before being recaptured.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Quite a resume; the lawyers are grasping at straws and he should ride the needle into whatever is next. Unstable tumors and all.<\/p>\n