By Jeremy Kohler
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Michael A. Taylor has been here before.
The state of Missouri was hours away from taking his life in June 2006 for the abduction, rape and murder of 15-year-old Ann Harrison in Kansas City.
But Taylor’s lawyers raised questions about whether Missouri’s three-drug lethal injection protocol would pass constitutional muster. Their inquiry led to a blockbuster disclosure: The state’s lead executioner testified that he was dyslexic and sometimes mixed up drug amounts. His testimony raised questions about whether the state’s execution protocol put Taylor at risk of suffering a cruel and unusual punishment.
A federal judge put a moratorium on Missouri’s death penalty.
Years later, Missouri uses a single drug, pentobarbital. The state has used it to execute three inmates since November. Taylor is next in line for the injection, scheduled for Feb. 26. But once again, questions from Taylor’s lawyers about Missouri’s execution protocol threaten to keep the state from seeking justice.
Last week, Taylor’s lawyers sued an Oklahoma compounding pharmacy in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Oklahoma, seeking to restrain it from selling pentobarbital to the Missouri Department of Corrections. The judge ordered a halt — at least until a hearing Tuesday.
It was unclear last week whether the action would delay Taylor’s execution. Missouri corrections officials would not say whether they had the pentobarbital on hand to execute Taylor. A department spokesman has previously testified that Missouri has a different drug available.
In comments to reporters on Thursday, Gov. Jay Nixon said the state was prepared to execute Taylor on time. Neither Nixon nor the Department of Corrections would elaborate.
Taylor’s lawyers argue that the state’s plan to use pentobarbital from the Oklahoma pharmacy would violate his civil rights because the pharmacy is not regulated by the federal government and therefore could make mistakes that result in an excruciating or drawn-out death. The lawyers also argue that the compounding pharmacy in Oklahoma cannot legally sell Missouri a drug that is available from a commercial pharmacy.
The pharmacy owner would not talk about the case with a reporter. On Friday, a lawyer for the pharmacy asked the judge to put a seal over its response to Taylor’s lawsuit. It did not admit to being Missouri’s execution drug supplier, but said it needed the court seal to help maintain the state of Missouri’s policy of neither confirming nor denying the identity of an execution team member.
If Missouri did switch to a new execution drug, it wouldn’t be the first time. When a component of its three-drug injection became unavailable after an execution in February 2011, the state switched to a single injection of propofol, a common anesthetic used in health care. But the European Union, where much of the world’s supply of propofol is made, warned that it would cut off its supply of the drug to the U.S. if Missouri were to use it an execution.
In October, Nixon called off the execution of murderer Allen Nicklasson after the state was pressured to return the propofol. Nixon ordered corrections officials to draw up a new execution protocol; the department settled on compounded pentobarbital. The drug was used to execute serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin in November, Nicklasson in December and killer Herbert Smulls in January.
Taylor’s case has been closely watched by people in the Kansas City area. He and accomplice Roderick Nunley were convicted of raping and murdering Ann Harrison, 15, a freshman at Raytown South High School who worked part time at a neighborhood grocery. (Nunley also faces a death sentence. His execution was stayed by a federal judge in 2010 over questions about the fairness of Nunley’s death sentence, which had been imposed by a judge instead of a jury.)
According to court records, Taylor and Nunley stole a car on March 22, 1989, and spotted Harrison waiting for a school bus at the end of her driveway. Taylor forced Ann into the car. Her schoolbooks, purse and flute were found stacked next to the mailbox. Nunley drove to his mother’s house. They forced Ann into the basement, where they raped her.
They forced her back into the trunk of the car and tied her up. Taylor was afraid the girl would identify them. Nunley got two knives from the kitchen, and they stabbed her repeatedly. She died about 30 minutes later. The men drove the car to a nearby neighborhood, parked and fled.
Ann’s parents, Bob and Janel Harrison, made a dramatic plea on television for the girl’s return. But her body was found several days later in the back of the car.