Update posted at 10:20 p.m.:
See "High court clears way for execution of Missouri inmate" for additional developments.
Previous coverage
Update posted at 7:15 p.m.:
As of 7:15 p.m. CST, there was no indication when the U.S. Supreme Court would announce its ruling in the Allen Nicklasson death penalty case from Missouri. If the execution does not occur Wednesday, the state Supreme Court would have to set another date for the execution.
Original article:
BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) -- The state of Missouri waited for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule Wednesday on whether it could execute death row inmate Allen Nicklasson, condemned for the killing of a Good Samaritan who stopped to help him and two friends who were stranded on the side of the road.
The Supreme Court was expected to announce its decision Wednesday morning. The execution could be carried out at the state prison in Bonne Terre at any time Wednesday, according to Missouri statute.
Nicklasson, 41, had been scheduled to die by injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for the 1994 murder of businessman Richard Drummond, who was shot to death after he stopped to help when a car carrying Nicklasson and two others stalled in central Missouri.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay Tuesday over concerns about Nicklasson's legal representation. When the full appeals court refused to take up the case on Tuesday, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"In the last nineteen years, Nicklasson has filed appeals or challenges to his convictions numerous times, in five different courts," Koster wrote in the appeal to the high court. "The time for enforcement of Missouri's criminal judgment against Allen L. Nicklasson is long, long overdue."
Nicklasson's attorney, Jennifer Herndon, also appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court and Gov. Jay Nixon to stop the execution but there were no signs that Nixon planned to intervene.
Nicklasson, Dennis Skillicorn and Tim DeGraffenreid were returning to Kansas City after buying drugs in St. Louis in August 1994 when their car broke down on I-70 near Kingdom City, Mo. When Drummond stopped to help, the men forced the 47-year-old Excelsior Springs businessman to drive west, then exit and head to a secluded area, where Nicklasson shot him twice in the head.
Nicklasson and Skillicorn then stole Drummond's car and drove to Arizona. When the vehicle broke down in the desert, they approached the home of Joseph and Charlene Babcock. Joseph Babcock was killed by Nicklasson after driving the men back to their vehicle, and Charlene Babcock was killed at the couple's home.
Both men were sentenced to life in prison for the Arizona killings. Both were sentenced to death in Missouri. Skillicorn was executed in 2009.
DeGraffenreid pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and did not receive a death sentence.