KSDK-TV

"Missouri Death Row Inmate Executed For 1994 Murder Of Lemay Woman," by Ann Rubin. (3/16/2005 12:34:02 PM)

(KSDK) -- The state of Missouri carried out the execution of Stanley Hall early Wednesday morning. Hall's life ended nearly 11 years after he kidnapped a Lemay woman, shot her and threw her body into the Mississippi River. Stanley Hall spent his last hours Tuesday with his wife, his mother and his extended family at the state prison in Potosi. Hall's wife Stephanie says, "It's been a long day. For the last few days, not much sleep. Emotions are like a roller coaster."

They say Hall has been holding up well, and in a phone interview a few hours before his scheduled execution he admitted he has made his peace, "I prepared myself 11 years ago for this day to come. My spirits are strong and now that we have received the decision that Governor Blunt and others have made, it's something I have to live with." In 1994, Hall kidnapped and later killed Barbara Jo Wood. He took her at gunpoint from a south St. Louis County shopping mall, shot her, and pushed her off the McKinley Bridge to her death. A fisherman found her body in the Mississippi River seven months after her murder.

Wood's family has said repeatedly that her killer should be shown no mercy. "I think that the facts of this case are being forgotten, of the extreme brutality of this murder that he and his accomplice committed 11 years ago," said Scott Wood, the victim's son.

Stanley Hall wants the Wood family to know he is sorry, "I've spoken to several news channels and radio stations and extended my condolences and my sympathies to the family."

With all his appeals exhausted and his request for clemency denied, Stanley Hall made the most of his last hours, and he had a few words for the people he loves, "I want all my family and friends, my other son and all the people who gave me support to know that I'm still standing strong, and I'm going to be that way until the last second, minute, hour, or whatever it is."

Springfield News-Leader

"State executes killer Stanley Hall; Penalty opponents pray as Missouri ends 17 months without an execution." (03-16-05)

St. Louis — Missouri proceeded with its first execution in 17 months, putting killer Stanley Hall to death early today. In the final hours of his life, Hall said he was at peace. Hall, 37, died by injection at the Potosi Correctional Center for the 1994 murder of Barbara Jo Wood of St. Louis County. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Hall's request for a stay of execution Tuesday evening and Gov. Matt Blunt later denied clemency.

Blunt said he found no reason to set aside the result of previous judicial decisions in the case. "My thoughts and prayers are with Barbara Jo Wood's family," Blunt said in a written statement. "I hope this action brings them the closure they deserve, and I hope God will have mercy on Stanley Hall's soul."

Still, Hall, in a telephone interview, said his spirits were high. "I still have hope and faith that things come out for the better," Hall said. "Still at the same time, I'm prepared for the worst."

About 30 death penalty opponents gathered at a chapel behind St. Agnes Cathedral in Springfield on Tuesday night to pray for a stay of Hall's execution and drum up support for a moratorium in Missouri. The Rev. Larry Maddox, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the country's criminal justice system was flawed and unfair to African-Americans. He called on Christians to oppose the death penalty. "We need to wipe it out," Maddox said. "It's not good for this country. It's not good for this state." Laura Graham of Springfield, who attended the vigil, said she opposed the death penalty because she believes in the "sanctity of life." "It just doesn't make sense," said Graham, 51.

Wood's brother, Mark Velcheck of Florissant, said Hall should be shown no mercy. "The thing that bothers me is people are portraying him as a victim. He's not a victim. He's a murderer ...," Velcheck said.

Hall's attorney, Nelson Mitten, sought to halt the execution based on testing he recently discovered showing that Hall's IQ at age 7 as measured at 57. An average IQ is 100. Subsequent IQ scores for Hall were generally in the 70-75 range. Attorney General Jay Nixon said that put him in the borderline mentally retarded range. The U.S. Supreme Court banned executions of the mentally retarded in 2002, and Missouri issued a similar ban a year earlier. But there is no ban against executing the borderline mentally retarded.

On Jan. 15, 1994, Hall and a friend borrowed a car and drove to South County Mall in search of a car to steal and use in a drive-by shooting. Wood arrived at the mall for her part-time job at the Famous-Barr department store. The men pulled a gun, forced Wood into the passenger seat of her 1991 Geo and drove her to the McKinley Bridge over the Mississippi River. There, Wood was forced out of the car and shot. With Wood struggling and pleading for her life, Hall lifted her over the bridge railing, and she dropped 90 feet into the icy water. Witnesses notified police, who captured Hall moments later.

MissouriNet.Com

"State Executes Stanley Hall For 1994 Killing," by Stve Walsh.

Unofficial Death Penalty Moratorium Ends

Early this morning, Stanley Hall was executed for killing Barbara Jo Wood. Appeal after appeal came and went. Finally, with all appeals exhausted, Hall was executed early this morning and pronounced dead at 12:06. In Hall's final statement, he apologized to the Wood family for what he had done. Wood's relatives, who witnessed the execution, made it clear they were not ready to accept the apology and expressed satisfaction that justice had been carried out. The execution ends an unofficial moratorium on the death penalty in Missouri. There hadn't been an execution in the state since John C. Smith was put to death in October of 2003.

Missouri has executed convicted killer Stanley Hall for the 1994 murder of a St. Louis woman. On the evening of January 15, 1994, Stanley Hall and an accomplice searched the South County Shopping Center in St. Louis for a car to steal. They came across Barbara Jo Wood, who was pulling into the parking lot, and kidnapped her at gunpoint - taking her to the McKinley Bridge, which crosses the Mississippi River at St. Louis. Wood was forced out of the car, a struggle ensued, and she was shot. Hall then threw his victim over the guardrail into the water 90 feet below. Hall was quickly arrested, admitted the crime, and was sentenced to death.

Columbia Missourian

"First Missouri execution since 2003," by Annie Getsinger. (March 16, 2005)

In a telephone interview from his holding cell in Potosi, Hall also expressed remorse for killing Barbara Wood, 44, in 1994. “I am truly and sincerely sorry for what took place and what I was involved in,” he said.

Hours before the execution, Wood’s brother, Mark Velcheck of Florissant, said Hall deserved no mercy. “The thing that bothers me is people are portraying him as a victim. He’s not a victim. He’s a murderer. His time has come,”’ Velcheck said.

In 1996, Hall was convicted of the murder of Wood, a St. Louis County woman, and was sentenced to death. He and an accomplice abducted Wood from South County Mall in January 1994, intending to use her car in a drive-by shooting. They took her to the McKinley Bridge, where they shot her. Hall then threw her over the guardrail and into the Mississippi River. He was arrested and confessed to the murder, but his accomplice was never charged.

Hall’s death sentence mobilized death penalty opponents in Columbia, where 24 people gathered Tuesday evening at a vigil outside the Boone County Courthouse to protest Hall’s execution. Jeff Stack, coordinator of Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation, organized the event, which was attended by members of his organization and other local groups within Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty as well as those who did not represent an organization. Stack and two others who attended the vigil went to the parking lot of St. Luke’s Methodist Church for a prayer vigil.

“I would like to see the abolition of the death penalty or at least a moratorium on it so that we can better see how it is used and the fairness or unfairness of it,” said Jean Murray of Ashland, who attended the two vigils in Columbia and one in Jefferson City at the Capitol. Stack traveled to Potosi later in the evening.

Hall’s request to the Missouri Supreme Court for a stay of his execution on the grounds that he was mentally retarded was denied Monday. Under the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Atkins v. Virginia, it is unconstitutional to execute a person who is mentally retarded. The motion requested that Hall be resentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility for parole and also requested a hearing.

During his trial, the psychologist who testified in his defense did not indicate that Hall was mentally retarded. However, as Nelson Mitten, Hall’s most recent attorney, pursued his school records as part of a clemency application, he found that they, along with IQ tests, provided evidence of mental retardation that was never entered into the trial. When Hall was tried, both the Atkins case and a similar Missouri statute from 2001 had not been decided, and mental retardation was not considered a mitigation factor, Mitten said. “The psychologist from Mr. Hall’s trial has reviewed the new records, which he believes call into question his earlier decision,” Mitten said.

The American Association on Mental Retardation’s Web site states that “mental retardation is generally thought to be present if an individual has an IQ test score of approximately 70 or below.” While tests placed Hall’s IQ both above and below 70, the tests vary by a deviation of five points. His attorney said Hall, whose highest score on record placed his IQ at 75, was mentally retarded. A test done when Hall was 7 years old reported an IQ of 57.

Phyllis Velcheck, Wood’s 81-year-old mother, was at Potosi along with several other family members to witness Hall’s execution. In an interview early Tuesday, she said Hall’s supporters were “grasping at straws.” “All of this was in the trial. They’re just bringing it up at the last minute,” she said of the claim that he was mentally retarded. “He’s already had 11 more years than my daughter, who he killed, and I’m looking forward to his execution tonight. It will put a finality and ending to it all.”

Mark Velcheck, Wood’s brother, expressed similar sentiments. He was present at the execution. “It’s important (to be there) because that’s a family member he murdered, and my sister would have wanted us to be there,” he said. “I’m not saying that his dying is going to bring her back, but I just want an end to this.” Velcheck said he couldn’t see his sister’s killer being rehabilitated. “My sister was a nice person with a couple of boys,” he said.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday afternoon to deny Hall’s appeal. Hall and his attorneys then sought a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court. The request was denied just after 6 p.m. Tuesday in a message faxed to Mitten. A request for clemency from Gov. Matt Blunt was also denied. A news release from Blunt’s office said he “found no reason to set aside the result of previous judicial decisions of the case.”

“We kill a human being, and it tells us more about our state and our society rather than the individual we kill,” said Stack, who visited and interviewed Hall three times for KOPN/89.5 FM and the Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation newsletter.

Hall married his wife, Stephanie, on March 4. The two met through her stepson, who was an inmate at Potosi. She described her husband as someone who had changed during his incarceration. Through the now-defunct Youth Enlightenment Program, designed to allow prisoners to help at-risk kids reform their behavior, Hall worked to mentor young offenders and potential offenders, she said. Interviewed over the phone from prison Tuesday morning, Hall said he enjoyed being able to help in this capacity. “I know deep in my heart that I’ve had the opportunity to touch some that might be in the same position I am in now,” he said.

Despite this change in outlook, Hall said he felt the justice system let him down throughout his trial and the appeals process. But it was his 11-year-old son he seemed to have most on his mind the day before his death. Hall only recently found out he was the father of the boy. The son is now living in circumstances similar to those in which he grew up, he said. “I had no one there to assist me and guide me when I was his age,” Hall said of his son. “I feel like I should have all of my life to be able to teach him to stay on the right path.”

St. Louis Today

"Killer hopes his IQ spares him from date with death," by Tim O'Neil. (03/11/2005)

Six days before his scheduled execution, Stanley L. Hall asked the Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday to spare his life because of new evidence that he is mentally retarded.

Hall, 37, is scheduled to be executed early Wednesday for throwing Barbara Jo Wood of south St. Louis County to her death from the McKinley Bridge into the icy Mississippi River on Jan. 15, 1994. Hall and an accomplice abducted her at the South County Mall because they wanted to use her 1991 Geo Storm in a drive-by shooting.

Wood, 44, had gone to the mall for her part-time job at Dillard's. She had been shot but was still alive and struggling when Hall threw her into the river. Partial remains were found in the river eight months later near Chester, Ill.

On Feb. 15, the Missouri Supreme Court set Hall's execution date. In his petition Thursday, Nelson L. Mitten, Hall's lawyer, asked the court to delay the execution, consider new evidence of Hall's mental abilities, and either reduce the sentence to life in prison or order a new sentencing hearing. Attorney General Jay Nixon will respond in court "and fight any effort (by Hall) to avoid his penalty," spokesman Scott Holste said. In 2001, the Missouri Legislature established guidelines to bar the execution of the legitimately mentally retarded. One year later, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the execution of mentally retarded persons.

Mark Velcheck of Florissant, one of Wood's brothers, said he hoped the court throws out Mitten's request. He is one of six relatives, including the victim's mother, Phyllis Velcheck, 81, who intend to witness the execution in the Potosi Correctional Center. "(Hall's) been talking retardation from the beginning. He's never even said he's sorry, so I don't buy anything he says," Mark Velcheck said. "I guess I just want to see him die."

Mitten said he was preparing a petition for clemency to Gov. Matt Blunt when he discovered Hall was diagnosed with an IQ of 57 when he was 7 years old. Mitten said a psychologist diagnosed him last week with an IQ of 65. Mitten had been planning to join a lawsuit by another condemned Missourian that the state's method of execution by lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual. But he said Thursday he changed his strategy when he found the additional evidence of retardation.

Missouri has not executed anyone since October 2003.

State v. Hall, 955 S.W.2d 198 (Mo. 1997) (Direct Appeal).

Defendant was convicted in the Circuit Court, St. Louis County, Emmett M. O'Brien , J., of murder in the first degree, kidnapping, robbery in the first degree, and two counts of armed criminal action, and was sentenced to death. He appealed. The Supreme Court, White, J., held that: (1) defendant had not entered into enforceable plea agreement; (2) certain veniremembers were properly removed for cause; (3) state did not violate Batson; (4) plea negotiations, results of polygraph test, and police reports were not admissible as mitigating evidence in penalty phase; (5) prosecutor's improper closing argument did not cause defendant manifest injustice; (6) jury instructions were proper; and (7) death penalty was not disproportionate. Affirmed.

WHITE, Judge.
A jury convicted defendant Stanley Hall of murder in the first degree, kidnapping, robbery in the first degree, and two counts of armed criminal action. The jury recommended a sentence of death. The trial court followed the recommendation. This Court has exclusive jurisdiction over the appeal. Mo. Const. art. V, section 3. We affirm the judgment.

I. FACTS

This Court reviews the facts in the light most favorable to the verdict. State v. Shurn, 866 S.W.2d 447, 455 (Mo. banc 1993).

On the evening of January 15, 1994, Stanley Hall and Rance Burton borrowed a car and drove to the South County Shopping Center in St. Louis, Missouri. They were searching for a vehicle to steal. Hall and Burton got out of their car and approached Barbara Jo Wood's car as she pulled into the parking lot. They forced her at gunpoint to the passenger side and then drove her in her car to the McKinley Bridge.

Wood was forced out of the car, and there was a struggle on the bridge. At some point she was wounded--witnesses in a passing car saw her bleeding. Burton got back in Wood's car and drove away. Wood, pleading for her life, was still holding on to Hall as he tried to lift her over the bridge railing. He eventually succeeded, and Wood fell ninety feet to the river. Meanwhile, the two witnesses in the car had notified the Venice, Illinois police department. The police arrived and captured Hall moments after he pushed Wood off the bridge. The icy condition of the river impeded search and rescue attempts.

Both witnesses identified Hall as the man they had seen struggling with Wood. After waiving his Miranda rights, Hall identified Barbara Jo Wood from a picture as the woman he had forced over the guardrail. Seven-and-a-half months later, the lower portion of a torso matching Wood's physical description was found in the Mississippi River.

A. Motion to Enforce Plea Agreement

On May 10, 1994, Hall entered a plea of not guilty to murder in the first degree, kidnapping, robbery in the first degree, and three [FN2] counts of armed criminal action. On March 15, 1996, three days before Hall's trial was set to begin, Hall filed a "Motion to Enforce the Negotiated Plea Agreement" seeking to enter a plea of guilty in exchange for a life sentence. Hall alleged that the State had negotiated a plea agreement with him, that he had completed the conditions required of him, and that the State was refusing to honor the agreement. Hall maintained that the terms of the agreement were that the State would recommend a life sentence on the following conditions: (1) that Hall provide complete and truthful information about the crime and all those involved, specifically Rance Burton, (2) that he pass a lie detector test, and (3) that the State independently corroborate his information about Burton.

On March 7, 1994, a year and eight months before Hall gave his statement pursuant to the alleged plea agreement, he gave the St. Louis County police a complete confession. Hall gave a detailed account of his trip to the mall, the kidnapping of Barbara Jo Woods, and the theft of her car. He recounted how Woods was pleading for her life as he struggled with her on the bridge. He described how, first, she grabbed on to the car door; then she was shot; next she grabbed hold of Hall; and finally, she clung to the bridge itself as Hall struggled to lift her over the guardrail. Hall confessed that he was the one who pushed her until she finally went over the railing.

Hall alleges that in November 1995, he confessed again pursuant to the purported plea agreement. The motion to enforce the plea agreement does not allege that the first and second confessions differed in any respect, however. The motion does not summarize the second confession other than to state that Hall gave the police "a complete and truthful account." Though Hall requested to make an offer of proof on other issues, he never offered to prove the contents of the second confession. Even if there had been a plea agreement, and the State breached it after obtaining a second confession, and Hall did pass a lie detector test, Hall's only relief would be the exclusion of the second confession. [FN3] Id. The trial court did not have before it any allegations or offers of proof regarding any information the State may have gained through the second confession. As it was not detrimental to Hall to repeat an earlier confession and the State did not unjustly benefit by hearing the confession a second time, the record supports the trial court's ruling.

* * *

Considering the crime, the strength of the evidence, and the defendant, this Court finds that the sentence is proportionate to cases where the sentencer found beyond a reasonable doubt any one of the above aggravating circumstances.

Hall v. State, 16 S.W.3d 582 (Mo. 2000) (PCR).

Petitioner sought postconviction relief after the Supreme Court, 955 S.W.2d 198, affirmed his convictions and death sentence for first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and armed criminal action. The Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Emmett M. O'Brien, J., denied relief. Petitioner appealed. The Supreme Court, Holstein, J., held that defendant did not receive ineffective assistance of trial counsel or appellate counsel. Affirmed. On January 15, 1994, Hall and Rance Burton went to the South County Shopping Center in St. Louis County looking for a vehicle to steal and use in a drive-by shooting. The two noticed Barbara Jo Wood pulling into a parking lot, approached the vehicle and forced her to accompany them at gunpoint. With her sitting on the passenger side, they drove the vehicle to the McKinley Bridge, which traverses the Mississippi River from the city of St. Louis to Illinois. Once there, Wood was forced to exit the car. Burton shot Wood, firing several rounds. He got back into the vehicle and left. However, Hall remained outside the vehicle. Though bleeding from her wounds, Wood struggled with Hall and begged for him to spare her life. After some initial difficulty, Hall lifted the woman over the bridge guardrail, dropping her some ninety feet to the icy river below. Hall was later identified by witnesses in a passing vehicle as the person seen struggling with Wood. After being arrested, Hall confessed that Wood was the woman he forced over the guardrail. Some seven months later, a lower torso identified as Wood's was recovered alongside the Mississippi River near Chester, Illinois. The site is about seventy miles downstream from the McKinley Bridge. On this evidence, Hall was convicted and sentenced to death.

Hall v. Luebbers, 341 F.3d 706 (8th Cir. 2003) (Habeas).

Following affirmance of his murder conviction and death sentence, 955 S.W.2d 198, and of denial of postconviction relief, 16 S.W.3d 582, petitioner sought habeas corpus relief. After holding that State of Missouri had not opted-in for expedited habeas review of capital sentences under Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Jean C. Hamilton, J., denied petition on merits. State appealed, and petitioner cross-appealed. The Court of Appeals, Riley, Circuit Judge, held that: (1) Missouri's postconviction appointment mechanism did not satisfy AEDPA standards for expedited review; (2) petitioner did not overcome presumption of correctness attaching to state findings that prosecutor's strikes conformed to Batson; (3) petitioner was not entitled to specific performance of plea agreement; (4) prosecutorial remarks in closing argument did not violate defendant's right to fair trial; (5) any error in excluding character evidence in penalty phase was harmless; and (6) any vagueness in instruction on one of six aggravating factors found by jury was harmless. Affirmed.

RILEY, Circuit Judge.
A jury convicted Stanley Hall (Hall) of first degree murder and assessed the death penalty as punishment. After the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed Hall's conviction, sentence, and denial of post-conviction relief, Hall petitioned the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2000). The district court [FN2] held the State of Missouri (State or Missouri) had not opted-in for expedited habeas review and denied Hall's petition. Missouri appeals, and Hall cross-appeals. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND A. Factual Background

In January 1994, Hall and Rance Burton (Burton) drove to the South County Shopping Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Searching the parking lot for a vehicle to steal, Hall and Burton approached Barbara Jo Wood's (Wood) car as it entered the parking lot. At gunpoint, Hall and Burton forced Wood into the passenger side of her car. Hall and Burton then drove Wood's car to the McKinley Bridge. Stopping on the McKinley Bridge, Hall or Burton forced Wood out of her car. A struggle ensued, during which Wood suffered some injuries. Burton then returned to Wood's car and sped away, leaving Hall and Wood on the bridge. Hall lifted Wood over the bridge railing. Pleading for her life, Wood held onto Hall. Struggling, Hall hurled Wood off the bridge and into the frigid Mississippi River where she died. Two witnesses reported the incident. The police arrived and arrested Hall. After waiving his Miranda rights, Hall confessed to throwing Wood into the river.

B. Procedural Background

A jury convicted Hall of kidnaping, two counts of armed criminal action, robbery in the first degree, and murder in the first degree. After the presentation of penalty-phase evidence, the jury found six aggravating factors and recommended capital punishment. The trial court accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced Hall to death. Hall appealed his conviction and sentence to the Missouri Supreme Court, which affirmed. See State v. Hall, 955 S.W.2d 198, 211 (Mo.1997). Hall filed for post-conviction relief, raising numerous ineffective assistance of counsel claims. The Missouri post-conviction court denied Hall relief. Hall appealed three ineffective assistance of counsel claims to the Missouri Supreme Court. The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed. See Hall v. State, 16 S.W.3d 582, 588 (Mo.2000).

* * *

For the foregoing reasons, we conclude Hall's conviction and punishment does not result "in a decision that [is] contrary to, or involv[es] an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law" or "in a decision that [is] based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1)-(2). Further, we conclude Rule 29.16 fails to comply with AEDPA's opt-in requirements. Therefore, we affirm.