This is the 23rd execution in the United States since the start of 2024, and the fourth in Missouri.
Published on 04/12/2024 08:03
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A man, sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a girl in 2007, was executed in Missouri, the state prison administration announced Tuesday, December 3. Christopher Collings, 49, was sentenced to death in 2012. He was convicted of kidnapping and raping Rowan Ford, the 9-year-old stepdaughter of one of his friends. Realizing that the child had recognized him, he strangled her before throwing her body in a hole, where she was found a few days later, court documents state.
Christopher Collings' lawyers had exhausted all legal appeals against his execution, with the United States Supreme Court rejecting his request for a stay on Monday. The Republican governor of Missouri, Mike Parson, brushed aside the final calls for clemency that same day.
This is the 23rd execution in the United States since the start of 2024, and the fourth in Missouri. Most of the condemned received a lethal injection. Three were executed by nitrogen inhalation, a controversial method of asphyxiating the condemned, in Alabama. The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 American states. Six others (Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee) observe a moratorium on executions, by decision of the governor.
