Convicted killer Brian Dorsey has appealed his death sentence to the U.S. Supreme Court, just one day before he is set to be executed by the state of Missouri for killing his cousin Sarah Bonnie and her husband Ben, then having sexual intercourse with Bonnie's corpse.
Dorsey pleaded guilty to the 2006 first-degree murders in 2008 and has spent 17 years on death row awaiting his execution and serving out his sentence.
He may not have had adequate legal representation in his trial back then, and it was never presented to the court that Dorsey was in the middle of a drug-induced psychotic break after going 72 hours without sleep when he committed the murders.
The couple went to his house when Dorsey asked for help getting rid of some drug dealers on his property, and after they helped him, he went to their house with them to stay there. The couple's four-year-old daughter was in the house when he killed them and was found the next morning when Sarah's parents went to check on them.
He waited until they went to sleep, then shot them both. He took Sarah's Social Security card and other items and poured bleach on Sarah's genitalia to try to destroy DNA evidence of his crimes.
After he killed the couple, he met up with another woman with whom he had used drugs and from whom he had borrowed drug money, and gave her items he had taken from them as payment for the drugs.
Police went on to recover DNA from Sarah's body, and it matched to Dorsey or a male relative to a .23% certainly.
Although Dorsey admitted to the heinous killings just days after they happened, he has put forward numerous appeals trying to save his life.
In January 2024, numerous police and corrections officers asked Governor Mike Parson (R) for clemency for Dorsey, citing his good behavior and lack of problems in the prison setting.
In a letter, the officers said Dorsey "has stayed out of trouble, never gotten himself into any situations, and been respectful of us and of his fellow inmates."
After the Missouri Supreme Court denied a last-minute appeal on Sunday, Parson also denied a last-minute request to stay the execution.
“The pain Dorsey brought to others can never be rectified, but carrying out Dorsey’s sentence according to Missouri law and the Court’s order will deliver justice and provide closure,” Parson said in a news release.
Lawyers for Dorsey argued that it would not be legal to execute Dorsey on Tuesday because he had been rehabilitated.
“Gov. Parson has chosen to ignore the wealth of information before him showing that Brian Dorsey is uniquely deserving of mercy,”Dorsey’s attorney Megan Crane wrote.
