ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY, Mo. — Brian Dorsey, the Missouri inmate convicted of killing his cousin and her husband in 2006, was executed by lethal injection Tuesday evening after the U.S. Supreme Court denied two appeals on his behalf.
The State of Missouri confirmed Dorsey was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. at Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.
Dorsey, in a final statement handed out prior to the execution, expressed deep sorrow for the killings.
“To all of the family and loved ones I share with Sarah and to all of the surviving family and loved ones of Ben, I am totally, deeply, overwhelmingly sorry," Dorsey said. "Words cannot hold the just weight of my guilt and shame. I still love you. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I am sorry I hurt them and you. To my family, friends, and all of those that tried to prevent this, I love you! I am grateful for you. I have peace in my heart in large part because of you and I thank you. To all those on ALL sides of this sentence, I carry no ill will or anger, only acceptance and understanding.”
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an appeal filed by Dorsey's attorneys, leaving them without any other opportunities to stop his execution Tuesday evening.
"The U.S. Supreme Court has denied Brian Dorsey’s requests to consider whether he was denied the effective assistance of counsel by his attorneys’ flat-fee compensation or whether executing someone who is fully rehabilitated is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment," Dorsey's attorneys told 5 On Your Side in an emailed statement.
The move came a day after Gov. Mike Parson announced he would not stop the execution of Dorsey despite a push to stop it.
Dorsey was convicted of killing his cousin, Sarah Bonnie, and her husband, Ben Bonnie, on December 23, 2006, just north of Jefferson City in New Bloomfield. Parson said Dorsey was visiting their house the day before Christmas Eve to borrow money from them when drug dealers came knocking at his door to collect their debts.
Jenni Gerhauser, cousins with both Dorsey and Sarah, testified at the trial on Dorsey's behalf.
"A monster killed my cousin and that monster is crack cocaine," Gerhauser told KOMU in Jefferson City.
Gerhauser also spoke at Sarah's funeral describing Sarah as someone who didn't have an easy life.
"Nobody could pull themselves up and dust themselves off like that girl could," Gerhauser said. "She was tenacious. She was feisty. She was a great mother. I adored her. That girl could have done anything and been anyone if she wanted to, if she put her mind to it."
Dorsey shot and killed them -- then sexually assaulted his cousin Sarah's body -- according to prosecutors, as their 4-year-old daughter slept in another room.
"I truly believed that somebody needed to speak for Sarah, just as I'm speaking for Brian right now because I love them the same," Gerhauser said.
One of Dorsey's attorneys, Megan Crane, spoke with 5 On Your Side just hours before the April 9 execution, saying her client was going through a drug induced psychosis during the crime.
That was never mentioned in the initial trial.
"Mr. Dorsey’s clemency petition was supported by more than 70 current and former Missouri correctional officers, a former judge of the Missouri Supreme Court, five of the jurors who sentenced Mr. Dorsey to death, Republican state legislators, mental health experts, faith leaders, and many members of Mr. Dorsey’s family, several of whom also are family members of the victims, Mr. Dorsey’s cousin Sarah Bonnie and her husband Ben," Dorsey's attorneys said.
"Yes, he's been convicted of this terrible crime but he doesn't even remember," Gerhauser said. "Yet, he's taken responsibility for it."
Multiple vigils hosted by Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty were planned statewide.
One was held outside the St. Louis Circuit Court with about half a dozen people holding signs as cars drove by Tucker Blvd and Market Street in downtown St. Louis.
"It just underscores how wrong it is to kill," Margaret Phillips, an organizer of the St. Louis protest vigil with Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, told 5 On Your Side. "Somewhere we have a sign that says, 'Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?'"
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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