By AP/KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – The state of Missouri is getting ready to execute a death row inmate for the first time in nearly a year-and-a-half.
On Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court set a March 16th execution date for Stanley Hall. He was convicted of throwing a woman to her death from the McKinley Bridge, in St. Louis.
Margaret Phillips, with the group Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, called the decision disappointing. But Attorney Jay Nixon says he hopes the state is returning to what he calls a more "predictable, orderly legal process" in setting execution dates.
It would be the first time the state put someone to death since October 29th, 2003, when convicted killer John Clayton Smith was executed.