Missouri bishops urge state to refrain from executing convicted child-killer next month

St. Louis, Mo., Nov 22, 2024 / 15:05 pm

Missouri’s bishops are urging the state to forgo executing a man next month who was convicted of the 2007 abduction, rape, torture, and murder of a 9-year-old girl.

Police said Christopher Collings confessed to killing Rowan Ford after raping her on Nov. 3, 2007. The murder took place in rural Stella, Missouri, in the far southwest corner of the state. 

Collings’ confession, which became a key piece of evidence at his trial, allegedly took place during an unrecorded conversation with now-deceased Police Chief Clinton Clark. Collings’ attorneys have argued that the prosecution suppressed information about Clark’s alleged criminal history that would have been relevant to the trial. 

Ford’s stepfather also admitted to playing a primary role in the crime, though he was ultimately only charged with lesser offenses and eventually released from prison. 

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey in April announced that his office had requested that the Missouri Supreme Court set an execution date for Collings, claiming “no court has ever found any legal errors” with his conviction.

Barring an intervention from the Missouri Supreme Court or the governor, Collings will be executed on Tuesday, Dec. 3.

The Missouri Catholic Conference, which advocates policy on behalf of the state’s bishops, is urging Catholics to contact the governor to express their opposition to Collings’ execution.

“The death and other circumstances of Rowan’s murder are tragic and abhorrent, and though her death was a great injustice, it still would also be an injustice if the state carries out a man’s execution in lieu of confining him to life imprisonment,” the bishops said in a statement.

“The Catholic Church is strongly opposed to the death penalty because it disregards the sanctity and dignity of human life,” they said.

The bishops said that citizens can reach out to the governor’s office to express opposition to the pending execution. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, reflecting an update promulgated by Pope Francis in 2018, describes the death penalty as “inadmissible” and an “attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” (No. 2267).

The change reflects a development of Catholic doctrine in recent years. St. John Paul II, calling the death penalty “cruel and unnecessary,” encouraged Christians to be “unconditionally pro-life” and said that “the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil.”

Missouri is among the most prolific of all U.S. states when it comes to the death penalty; it was one of only five states to carry out executions in 2023, carrying out four that year. 

Outgoing Republican Gov. Mike Parson has never granted clemency to a death row inmate during his governorship. In April Parson denied death row inmate Brian Dorsey’s clemency request despite protests from Catholics and others, clearing the way for the state’s first execution of 2024. 

In September Missouri executed Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams for the brutal murder of a St. Louis journalist in 1998 despite doubts about Williams’ guilt.