A man whose death sentence for killing an elderly Missouri couple during a home robbery was overturned three times was to be executed on Tuesday.
Carman Deck, 56, would be the fifth inmate in the United States to be executed this year if he proceeds with a lethal injection. His hopes of receiving a pardon basically plummeted on Monday, when the Supreme Court rejected a last-minute appeal and Republican Gov. Mike Parson rejected his clemency request, even though Deck could appeal again.
Deck, who was from the St. Louis area, was a friend of James and Zelma Long’s grandson and knew they had a safe at their home in De Soto, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southwest of St. Louis, according to court documents.
In July 1996, Deck and his sister knocked on the door of the house, under the pretense of asking for directions.
Once inside, Deck pulled out a gun. At Deck’s instructions, Zelma Long opened the safe and took out the jewelry. She then took $200 out of a purse and more money hidden in a can.
Deck ordered the couple to lie on their stomachs on their bed. Court documents say Deck pondered for 10 minutes what to do and then shot James Long twice in the head and then did the same to Zelma.
A tip alerted police to the location of Deck, who was arrested that night outside his sister’s apartment building in St. Louis County.
Prosecutors said Deck later gave a full account of the killings. He was sentenced to death in 1998, but the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the sentence due to errors by Deck’s defense at trial.
The US Supreme Court overturned his second death sentence in 2005, citing prejudice caused by the fact that Deck appeared in chains before the jury.
He was sentenced to death for a third time in 2008, but Judge Catherine Perry overturned that sentence nine years later, determining that “substantial” evidence against the death penalty in the first two phases of the sentence was not available for the third phase. because some witnesses had already died, were not located or refused to cooperate.
In October 2020, a three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit federal court of appeals reinstated the death penalty, arguing that Deck should have argued first in state court, not federal court.