On June 9, Richard Strong was exe­cut­ed in Missouri, despite the fact that four Justices of the Supreme Court would have grant­ed him a stay and despite evi­dence that he suf­fered from severe men­tal ill­ness. A broad chal­lenge to Missouri’s secre­tive lethal injec­tion process (Zink v. Lombardi) has yet to be resolved, and Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan vot­ed to stay Strong’s exe­cu­tion because of that chal­lenge. However, five votes are need­ed to stay an exe­cu­tion. In addi­tion, Strong’s orig­i­nal tri­al coun­sel failed to ade­quate­ly explore his men­tal ill­ness and the men­tal prob­lems in his fam­i­ly. After a fuller inves­ti­ga­tion, Strong was diag­nosed with major Axis I ill­ness­es, includ­ing: Major Depression, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Schizotypal Personality Disorder, and Dissociative Identity Disorder. Strong’s coun­sel asked the Supreme Court to spare his life because soci­ety’s stan­dards of decen­cy have turned away from exe­cut­ing peo­ple with such severe men­tal prob­lems. Strong was con­vict­ed of mur­der­ing his wife and two-year-old daugh­ter in a bru­tal man­ner. He acknowl­edged the crime but could not under­stand why he did it. Another child was left untouched. Now 14 years old, she plead­ed for mer­cy for her father. Gov. Jay Nixon denied clemency.

(M. Griffin, ​“Missouri exe­cutes Richard Strong for dou­ble mur­der,” St. Louis Public Radio, June 10, 2015). See Lethal Injection and Mental Illness.

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