|
 Roderick Nunley, 50, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal
injection at 6 p.m. CDT in the state's death chamber in Bonne Terre,
Missouri.
Nunley pleaded guilty to the murder of Ann Harrison, a Kansas City
high school girl who was waiting for her school bus on a March
morning when he and accomplice Michael Taylor drove by and decided
to kidnap and rape her. After assaulting her, the two men stabbed
Harrison multiple times and left her body in the trunk of a car they
had stolen.
Taylor also pleaded guilty, and was executed in April 2014.
 As Nunley's execution date has neared, his lawyers and the Missouri
Attorney General's office have inundated courts with claims and
counterclaims over whether the execution should proceed.
In an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, lawyers for Nunley have
argued the death penalty constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment."
Janel Harrison, the victim's mother, said she and her husband, Bob
Harrison, plan to attend the execution.
"For the past 26 years there have been times when Bob and I have
felt compassion for Nunley, Taylor and their families only to
remember how frightened Ann must have been," Janel Harrison said.
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"The total fear she felt when she was bound and unable to defend
herself while listening to them discuss how they were going to kill
her. The pain she felt when they stabbed her, not once, but at least
10 times. That is the true definition of unusual pain and suffering.
The only closure that our family will have is knowing that justice
for Ann has been attained and that we are finally through with the
judicial system."
Nunley was previously set to be executed in October 2010 but the
execution was delayed to address an appeal raised by him challenging
the imposition of a death sentence by a judge and not a jury.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City, Missouri; Editing by
Mohammad Zargham)
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