Man who shot dead two jailers in effort to help inmate escape to be executed
A man who fatally shot two jailers in a failed effort to help an inmate escape prison is set to be executed on Tuesday evening.
Michael Tisius, 42, faces a lethal injection at a state prison in Bonne Terre for killing Missouri jail officers Jason Acton and Leon Egley nearly 23 years ago.
Governor Mike Parson on Monday declined to grant clemency to Tisius.
‘It’s despicable that two dedicated public servants were murdered in a failed attempt to help another criminal evade the law,’ stated Parson, a Republican. ‘The state of Missouri will carry out Mr. Tisius’s sentences according to the Court’s order and deliver justice.’
The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to stop his execution based on his age at the time of the killings, 19.
Lawyers for Tisius had pointed to a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that prohibits executions for defendants under 18 years of age when the crime was committed. They pushed for his sentence to be commuted to life in prison without parole, although Tisius was over 18.
Last week, a federal judge stayed the execution over a claim that one of the jurors was not literate. However, an appeals panel reinstated Tisius’s execution and the Supreme Court has not issued a ruling on the matter.
Tisius was incarcerated at Randolph County Jail in Huntsville for a misdemeanor charge in June 2000. While still behind bars, Tisius spoke with another inmate, Roy Vance, of a plan to help him escape, according to court records.
After he was released later that month, Tisius and Vance’s girlfriend went to the small jail and told Acton and Egley that they were delivering cigarettes to Vance. But Tisius had a pistol and is accused of shooting and killing Acton and Egley, who were not armed.
Tisius apparently found keys and tried to unlock Vance’s cell but failed, and shot Egley multiple times more when the jailer grabbed Vance’s girlfriend’s leg. Tisius and Vance’s girlfriend fled but their car broke down and they were arrested in Wathena, Kansas.
His execution would be the third in Missouri so far this year and the 12th in the US.
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