The 4th Execution of 2024
The state of Missouri executed Brian Dorsey on April 9, 2024 for the 2006 murders of his cousin, Sarah Bonnie, and her husband, Benjamin
Bonnie, after an effort to have his life spared failed in recent days, reported CNN.
Dorsey’s time of death was recorded as 6:11 p.m, the Missouri
Department of Corrections said in a news release. The method of execution was
lethal injection, Karen Pojmann, a spokesperson for the department, said at a
news conference, adding it “went smoothly, no problems.”
The execution of Dorsey, 52, occurred hours after the
US Supreme Court declined to intervene and about a day after Missouri’s
Republican governor denied clemency, rejecting the inmate’s petition – backed
by more than 70 correctional officers and others – for a commutation
of his sentence to life in prison.
Dorsey and his attorneys cited his remorse, his
rehabilitation while behind bars and his representation at trial by attorneys
who allegedly had a “financial conflict of interest” as reasons he should not
be put to death. But those arguments were insufficient to convince Gov. Mike
Parson, who said in a statement carrying out Dorsey’s sentence “would deliver
justice and provide closure.”
In a final written statement before his execution,
Dorsey thanked supporters who advocated on his behalf and apologized to the
loved ones of his victims.
“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. Words cannot hold the just weight of my guilt and
shame,” Dorsey said, according to the statement provided to CNN by his
attorneys. “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,” he said. “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.”
While Dorsey’s petition also cited support from some
relatives who his attorneys said were also related to the victims, other
members of the victims’ families supported the execution, telling CNN in a
statement Dorsey committed the “ultimate betrayal” when he killed Sarah Bonnie,
his cousin, and her husband Benjamin and left their daughter Jade, then 4 years
old, in the home with her parents’ bodies locked in their bedroom.
“Not only did Jade lose her parents but we also lost a
daughter and son, sister and brother, aunt and uncle, and a great aunt and
great uncle to so many,” the statement from Sarah Bonnie’s family read, in
part.
“They were loved so deeply by anyone that knew them,”
it said. “All of these years of pain and suffering we finally see the light at
the end of the tunnel. Brian will get the justice that Sarah and Ben have
deserved for so long.”
In his statement Monday, the governor said the “pain
Dorsey brought to others can never be rectified,” and Dorsey’s execution would
proceed according to state law and as ordered by the Missouri Supreme Court.
“Brian Dorsey punished his loving family for helping
him in a time of need,” Parson said. “His cousins invited him into their home
where he was surrounded by family and friends, then gave him a place to stay.
Dorsey repaid them with cruelty, inhumane violence, and murder.”
The murders occurred the night of December 23, 2006.
Hours earlier, Dorsey called Sarah asking for help, according to a history of
the case included with a ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court last month. Two
drug dealers were in his apartment, Dorsey said, and he needed money to pay
them.
The couple went to Dorsey’s apartment and the drug
dealers left. They then took Dorsey back to their home, the ruling notes, and
Dorsey spent the evening drinking and playing pool with their family and friends.
Later that night, the ruling said, Dorsey entered
their room and fatally shot them with a shotgun at close range. Court records
said Dorsey raped Sarah’s body. Dorsey’s attorneys argued this remains an
allegation; he was never charged with and never pleaded guilty to rape or
sexual assault.
Dorsey was charged with two counts of first-degree
murder and pleaded guilty in March 2008. He was sentenced to death for each
murder, court records show, and his conviction and death sentence were upheld
on appeal.
The killings were deeply traumatic for Sarah Bonnie’s
family, according to their statement, noting the bodies were discovered by her
parents. In the years after, the family did what they could to keep the
memories of Sarah and Ben alive, taking their daughter to the cemetery each
year to release balloons.
“We think of all the things that she has missed out on
during her life without her parents. First day of school, school parties,
school dances, first date, sweet sixteen, first boyfriend and high school
graduation,” their statement said. “All of this was taken from her by a family
member that proclaimed to love her.”
Jenni Gerhauser, a cousin to both the inmate and Sarah
Bonnie, however, had held out hope Dorsey would be spared and was “devastated
and disheartened by the final failure to save the life of our cousin, Brian
Dorsey,” she said in a statement early Tuesday afternoon.
“This evening, Brian will be set free,” she said. “His
punishment will end, and for all of us only guilty of loving him, ours will
begin.”
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