ST. LOUIS — Missouri governor mike parson denied clemency for christopher collings, a death row inmate scheduled for execution on tuesday for the 2007 murder of 9-year-old rowan ford.
Collings, 49, is set to be executed by lethal injection at the state prison in bonne terre, missouri. His conviction is for sexually assaulting and strangling ford, whose body was discovered in a sinkhole six days after her death.
In his statement, governor parson emphasized that collings had received all constitutional protections and reaffirmed the legitimacy of his conviction and sentence. The u.S. Supreme court had already denied an appeal earlier in the day, and no further appeals are planned, according to collings’ attorney, jeremy weis.
Collings confessed to the crime, explaining that he had taken the child from her bed, assaulted her, and killed her when she recognized him. He also implicated rowan’s stepfather, david spears, who had pleaded to lesser charges.
The clemency petition raised concerns about collings’ brain abnormalities, which the defense argued affected his judgment and social behavior, and about the fairness of his case compared to spears’ lesser sentence.
The petition also questioned the reliability of a key law enforcement witness during the trial, who had a history of military disciplinary issues. Governor parson, a former sheriff, has overseen 12 executions in missouri without granting clemency, and collings’ execution will be the fourth in missouri this year.