By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – An anti-death penalty group has sent a petition to Missouri Governor Matt Blunt asking him to commute the sentence of an inmate facing execution later this month.
Dennis Skillicorn is scheduled to die by lethal injection on August 27th for the 1994 murder of Richard Drummond.
But Colleen Cunningham of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty says Skillicorn didn't kill Drummond.
"At the time of the shooting, Dennis Skillicorn was a quarter of a mile away, sitting in a car...he had no idea that his co-defendant, Allen Nicholson, was going to commit that murder," Cunningham said.
Skillicorn would be the first person executed in Missouri since October 2005, following questions over the human nature of lethal injection.
Press Secretary Jessica Robinson says Governor Blunt will review the case.
"That includes court records, applications for clemency, any types of communications from constituents, and also the Board of Probation and Parole's report, and then (he will) ultimately announce a decision," Robinson said.
According to case records, Skillicorn and Nicholson kidnapped Drummond after he offered them a lift.
Their vehicle, which had broken down, contained merchandise the men had stolen during an earlier burglary.
Cunningham says Skillicorn has since turned his life around, and that he works with terminally ill inmates at Potosi Correctional Center's hospice.
Skillicorn has also edited a book designed to steer youths away from crime.