Scheduled execution case has ties to Jefferson City

JC woman, Indiana man killed in 1998 robbery

In this photo provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections is Earl Ringo Jr. who was executed early on Sept. 10, 2014, for killing two people in Columbia in 1998.
In this photo provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections is Earl Ringo Jr. who was executed early on Sept. 10, 2014, for killing two people in Columbia in 1998.

Barring a last-minute intervention by Gov. Jay Nixon or the courts, an Indiana man is scheduled to be executed early Wednesday for the 1998 deaths of a Jefferson City woman and an Indiana delivery man.

Earl Ringo Jr., now 41, Jeffersonville, Indiana, was found guilty - by a Cape Girardeau County jury in a Boone County trial - for the shooting death of Joanna Baysinger, 22, on July 4, 1998, at the Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Columbia during a robbery with an accomplice.

Baysinger was the restaurant's new manager, and had gotten to the restaurant early to take a delivery.

Ringo, who was 26 when the murders occurred, also was found guilty of killing Dennis Poyser, 45, Fort Wayne, Indiana, who was making that delivery.

Boone County Circuit Judge Ellen Roper ordered Ringo's two death sentences on July 26, 1999.

Family members described Baysinger as a "daddy's girl" who loved spending time with her family - which included a son who wasn't quite 3 years old at the time of her death.

At his sentencing, Ringo told the court he was sorry for shooting Poyser and for being present while Baysinger was shot.

"When I walked into the restaurant, I didn't intend on shooting nobody," Ringo said. "Mr. Poyser came at me, and I did fire a shot.

"I'm sorry."

However, he held to his claim that he did not encourage his accomplice, Quentin Jones Jr., to shoot Baysinger.

"I did not tell or order or direct Quinton Jones to shoot anybody," he said at his sentencing.

"I'm sorry for that," he said of Baysinger's murder.

Jones - now 37, but 20 at the time of the crimes - testified against Ringo in a plea agreement allowing him to avoid the death penalty.

Jones, also from Jeffersonville, got three consecutive life sentences - one without the possibility of parole - for each murder and for his conviction on the robbery charge, to be followed by 50 years for his armed criminal action conviction.

He currently is being held at the Jefferson City Correctional Center.

Jones said Ringo planned the robbery, got Jones to participate and then encouraged him to shoot Baysinger after killing Poyser.

Ringo's attorney, Kay Parish; Missouri's four Roman Catholic bishops, in their role as the Missouri Catholic Conference; and the group Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty all are asking Nixon to halt Ringo's execution over concerns about racial bias in his case.

In a letter to the governor sent last Thursday and in a news release, they noted Ringo was convicted for killing two white victims, by an all-white jury, with a white prosecutor (Kevin Crane, now a Boone County circuit judge), white defense lawyers and white judge.

"Only four members of the 163 people selected for the jury were African-American," their news release said. "Only one prospective African-American juror was questioned to be on the jury and, in the end, was stricken from the panel. ...

"With the exception of Mr. Ringo himself, not one African-American citizen was involved in his trial or decided his sentence."

In their letter to Nixon, they also cited a 2012 American Bar Association study that found that racial considerations play an improper role in Missouri's capital punishment system.

And the clemency letter highlights a similar study currently being conducted under the auspices of St. Louis University's Law School "that is evaluating whether race and other impermissible factors influence Missouri's death penalty scheme."

The letter urged Nixon to halt this week's execution "until that institution promptly completes its work."

Nixon's office last week declined to comment on the letter and its request.

However, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld Ringo's death sentence in November 2000, saying race did not play a role in the jury's selection.

In March 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down Ringo's appeal of his death sentence.

And the Missouri Supreme Court, in November 2003, again upheld Ringo's conviction and death sentence - finding there was no basis to his defense of having a diminished mental capacity or of suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of childhood abuse.

The Corrections Department scheduled the execution for 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

As with all Missouri executions, the Supreme Court's warrant for Ringo's execution is set for the entire day of Sept. 10, which allows time for the execution to occur at some point during the day, if there are court-ordered delays.

Bob Watson of the News Tribune staff contributed information used in this story.