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One case where capital punishment is definitely wrong
Family asks Blunt, court to spare relative from execution
By Tim O'Neil
Of the Post-Dispatch
04/09/2005
A family that knows both sides of a gruesome murder is asking Gov. Matt Blunt to spare a relative who is to be executed on April 27 for killing his grandmother.
"We have had enough death in our family," said Matthew Knuckles of Rock Hill. "We just don't want any more grief to come from this."
Donald Jones, 38, is to be executed by lethal injection for beating and stabbing to death his grandmother, Dorothy Knuckles of St. Louis, in her home in 1993. Jones' relatives are asking Blunt to reduce his sentence to life in prison without parole.
Leading the effort for the family are two brothers of the victim - Matthew Knuckles, a Rock Hill alderman for 16 years; and Lester Knuckles, mayor of Velda Village (now Velda City) from 1976 to 1981. The family is circulating a petition, has filed a request for clemency with Blunt and is working with lawyers to file more court appeals.
The Missouri Supreme Court set the execution date for Jones after the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 6 turned down Jones' previous appeal. If the execution is carried out, Jones would be the 63rd person put to death by Missouri since 1989, when it resumed the penalty under federal court guidelines set in 1976.
Dorothy Knuckles, 68, was murdered in her home in the 3700 block of Cozens Avenue on March 6, 1993. A St. Louis Circuit Court jury found Jones guilty of beating her with a butcher block and stabbing her fatally after she refused to give him money for drugs.
Jones was arrested three days later and gave police an audiotaped confession in which he blamed the crime on "the monster in me." He had taken his grandmother's car and "rented" it to two men in exchange for two rocks of crack cocaine.
Several members of the family, including his two uncles, urged the trial court in 1994 to spare Jones' life. They said they oppose the death penalty as a matter of principle.
"Two wrongs don't make a right, and the Bible will tell you that," said Lester Knuckles.
Bill Swift, a public defender in Columbia, Mo., said he will ask the Missouri Supreme Court next week to halt the execution and reconsider several issues. One of them, he said, concerns a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that increases the requirements for defense lawyers to examine a defendant's life history.
But Swift said the family's own opposition should be compelling enough.
"This family went to the prosecutor and then went into court and said, 'We don't want the death penalty,' and yet their preference was ignored," Swift said. "Usually, the courts talk about how the victim's family wants the death penalty. Not this family."
Scott Holste, a spokesman for Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon, said his office "will continue to oppose any attempts to court to get this sentence overturned."
Jessica Robinson, a spokeswoman for Blunt, said the governor has asked the state Board of Probation and Parole to consider the case and offer a recommendation. She said Blunt will review the case
By Tim O'Neil
Of the Post-Dispatch
04/09/2005
A family that knows both sides of a gruesome murder is asking Gov. Matt Blunt to spare a relative who is to be executed on April 27 for killing his grandmother.
"We have had enough death in our family," said Matthew Knuckles of Rock Hill. "We just don't want any more grief to come from this."
Donald Jones, 38, is to be executed by lethal injection for beating and stabbing to death his grandmother, Dorothy Knuckles of St. Louis, in her home in 1993. Jones' relatives are asking Blunt to reduce his sentence to life in prison without parole.
Leading the effort for the family are two brothers of the victim - Matthew Knuckles, a Rock Hill alderman for 16 years; and Lester Knuckles, mayor of Velda Village (now Velda City) from 1976 to 1981. The family is circulating a petition, has filed a request for clemency with Blunt and is working with lawyers to file more court appeals.
The Missouri Supreme Court set the execution date for Jones after the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 6 turned down Jones' previous appeal. If the execution is carried out, Jones would be the 63rd person put to death by Missouri since 1989, when it resumed the penalty under federal court guidelines set in 1976.
Dorothy Knuckles, 68, was murdered in her home in the 3700 block of Cozens Avenue on March 6, 1993. A St. Louis Circuit Court jury found Jones guilty of beating her with a butcher block and stabbing her fatally after she refused to give him money for drugs.
Jones was arrested three days later and gave police an audiotaped confession in which he blamed the crime on "the monster in me." He had taken his grandmother's car and "rented" it to two men in exchange for two rocks of crack cocaine.
Several members of the family, including his two uncles, urged the trial court in 1994 to spare Jones' life. They said they oppose the death penalty as a matter of principle.
"Two wrongs don't make a right, and the Bible will tell you that," said Lester Knuckles.
Bill Swift, a public defender in Columbia, Mo., said he will ask the Missouri Supreme Court next week to halt the execution and reconsider several issues. One of them, he said, concerns a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that increases the requirements for defense lawyers to examine a defendant's life history.
But Swift said the family's own opposition should be compelling enough.
"This family went to the prosecutor and then went into court and said, 'We don't want the death penalty,' and yet their preference was ignored," Swift said. "Usually, the courts talk about how the victim's family wants the death penalty. Not this family."
Scott Holste, a spokesman for Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon, said his office "will continue to oppose any attempts to court to get this sentence overturned."
Jessica Robinson, a spokeswoman for Blunt, said the governor has asked the state Board of Probation and Parole to consider the case and offer a recommendation. She said Blunt will review the case
I concur. 
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