• 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).