SCOTUS stays Missouri execution pending resolution of ineffective counsel allegations

The inmate is 35-year-old Mark Christesen. He was convicted for the 1998 murders of 36-year-old Susan Brouk and her two children near Vichy, a small central-Missouri town about two hours southeast of St. Louis. The AP reports: 

The appeal to the Supreme Court raised several concerns about legal counsel Christeson has received over the years, including the failure of some of his attorneys to meet a 2005 deadline to file for an appeal hearing before a federal court. It is uncommon for someone to be executed without a federal court appeal hearing.

 

The high court denied a second appeal challenging the state's planned use of a made-to-order execution drug produced by an unidentified compounding pharmacy.