Missouri GOP leader urges commutation of death sentence

Wednesday, May 13, 2009 | 2:03 p.m. CDT
BY The Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY — House Majority Leader Steven Tilley says Gov. Jay Nixon should commute the death sentence of a Missouri man scheduled to be executed May 20.

Tilley, a Republican from Perryville, says there is "a lot of reasonable doubt" and it scares him that Dennis Skillicorn could be executed. Tilley said Skillicorn's sentence should be reduced to life in prison.

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Skillicorn is one of three men convicted of the 1994 slaying of Excelsior Springs businessman Richard Drummond, who stopped to help them when their car broke down on Interstate 70. Allen Nicklasson has said he shot Drummond and that Skillicorn did not kill him.

Tilley's remarks came during an emotional House debate over a failed effort to halt executions until 2012 to study Missouri's use of the death penalty.

 

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