• The legislature defeated a 2007 bill that would have made the death penalty mandatory for those who murder law enforcement officers.
  • Missouri became the 16th state to ban the execution of inmates with mental retardation. The Missouri bill, signed by Gov. Bob Holden on July 2, but not effective until August 28, is not retroactive to those currently on death row. However, the governor indicated he would consider commuting the death sentences of those who meet the law’s definition for retardation. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, AP, 7/2/01).