Missouri had the third highest number of executions...

Missouri had the third highest number of executions (9) of any state in 1999. In January, Pope John Paul II visited Missouri and called for an end to the death penalty. Darrell Mease had been scheduled for execution on January 27 during the Pope's visit, but in November, the Missouri Supreme Court - without explanation - postponed the execution until February 10. "Postponement is a mockery," said Dr. Joaquin Navarro Valls, the Pope's spokesman. The Pope often has said that the death penalty is immoral and unnecessary, because jails can protect the public from dangerous criminals. Immediately after the Pope's visit, Governor Mel Carnahan commuted Mease's sentence to life without parole as a gesture to honor the Pope. The Governor stressed that this was a one-time act, and one day after he granted clemency to Darrel Mease the Missouri Supreme Court set an execution date for James Rodden for February 24. Other executions have gone forward as scheduled. As of August 31, 34 people were executed during Democrat Mel Carnahan's tenure as Governor of Missouri, more than four times the number put to death during the two terms Republican John Ashcroft occupied the office. It was Carnahan who created the office of crime victims' rights, and authorized the construction of five new prisons.