Missouri inmate convicted of killing couple is executed despite innocence claim

Missouri on Tuesday evening executed inmate David Hosier, who was convicted of a 2009 double murder and experienced taken care of his innocence.

He was convicted in the September 2009 shooting deaths of a Jefferson City pair and was sentenced to dying just after a jury unanimously suggested that penalty.

“I’ve been capable to talk the reality of my innocence. I’ve been able to established an example of resistance to legal professionals who bully their clients,” Hosier stated he prepared to say in a last assertion, which had been shared with NBC Information. “I’ve been ready to reminisce with loved ones and close friends new and outdated. I’ve been capable to discover to be the fullest version of me.”

Hosier was executed by lethal injection at the condition jail in Bonne Terre and was pronounced lifeless at 6:11 p.m., mentioned Karen Pojmann, spokesperson for the Missouri Section of Corrections.

Hosier, 69, claimed earlier that he also planned to thank his spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeff Hood, who has been concerned in other high-profile death row instances, such as the 1st execution in the U.S. making use of nitrogen fuel before this 12 months.

His legal group didn’t answer to requests for comment right before the execution.

In previous interviews from jail, Hosier informed NBC Information that he was frustrated over how his legal professionals introduced his clemency petition by focusing on his childhood and the results on his psychological point out alternatively than the conditions of the crime.

A 19-web site clemency petition notes childhood trauma from the murder of his personal father as a mitigating issue in Hosier’s situation. Hosier’s father, Glen Hosier, was an Indiana point out trooper who was killed in the line of duty when Hosier was 16.

“David fell into a lifelong melancholy, and though at situations he appeared to be on the verge of some achievement, his mental wellness struggles would in the long run dictate his life’s system,” the petition stated, though also underscoring his “file of services” by joining the Navy and starting to be an EMT and firefighter as an adult.

Hosier claimed he disagreed with the angle his lawyers took.

“Fifty-3 years ago, my dad was killed,” he reported. “I told them I failed to want any of that utilised. It isn’t going to have something to do with this case.”

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson rejected Hosier’s clemency submission Monday, indicating the execution would be carried out due to the fact “he shows no regret for his senseless violence” and “earned highest punishment beneath the law.”

Hosier was convicted in the capturing fatalities of Jefferson Metropolis few Rodney and Angela Gilpin. He admitted to acquiring an extramarital affair with Gilpin while she was divided from her partner.

But Gilpin finished the romance with Hosier and she reconciled with her husband, according to court docket documents. A thirty day period later, prosecutors stated Hosier broke into their condominium and killed the couple.

Prosecutors painted Hosier as a scorned ex-lover who was out for revenge, indicating Gilpin’s purse contained an application for a protecting get versus Hosier, as effectively as a document expressing she was afraid Hosier may possibly shoot her and her husband.

Right after the bodies had been uncovered, Hosier was arrested in Oklahoma, exactly where law enforcement recovered 15 firearms, numerous rounds of ammunition, a bulletproof vest and a knife from his vehicle. In accordance to court docket documents, all of the guns ended up loaded besides for a Earth War II-era submachine gun, which prosecutors said was the murder weapon. Ballistics screening outcomes, nevertheless, experienced been “inconclusive,” a criminalist testified at Hosier’s demo.

There was also an incriminating observe in the entrance seat of Hosier’s automobile, prosecutors reported, that study in element: “If you are heading with somebody do not lie to them” and “be straightforward with them if there is some thing improper. If you do not this could take place to YOU!!”

Hosier stated he was not trying to flee when he was arrested in Oklahoma, stating he liked going for long drives to crystal clear his thoughts and generally took his guns with him since he hunted.

“I know two individuals were killed. I know I got blamed for it,” he explained to NBC News not long ago, incorporating that there were no eyewitnesses, fingerprints or DNA evidence tying him to the crime scene.

Hosier was convicted of initially-degree murder, armed criminal action, initial-degree burglary and illegal possession of a firearm by a felon.

Hosier’s ultimate food, served at 11 a.m. Tuesday, was a New York strip steak, a baked potato with butter and bitter product, Texas toast, Dutch apple pie and orange juice and milk, the state Section of Corrections reported.

In May, Hosier was moved from his jail to a hospital, exactly where he was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, which leads to a extremely irregular pulse charge. During an interview from prison last week, he was winded and limited of breath.

In his remaining words and phrases from the execution chamber, he supposed to say, “I leave you all with enjoy.”

“Do not cry for me,” his penned assertion states. “Just be a part of me when your time arrives.”