Michael St. Clair – White, age 34 (re-sentence after appellate reversal)
Sentenced in Bullitt County, Kentucky
By: a jury
Date of crime: October 1991
Victim: Frank Brady
Prosecution’s case/defense response: St. Clair and his accomplice escaped from prison and went on a multistate crime spree. They kidnapped the victim to steal his vehicle, took him to a secluded area, and St. Clair shot him execution style. After twice overturning death sentences on judicial error, the jury found aggravating factors of murder while kidnapping and execution style murder existed. St. Clair changed his story for the first time in 20 years claiming that his previous public defender had encouraged him to claim he never came to Kentucky. St. Clair now admitted to being in Kentucky but claimed his accomplice had killed Brady while St. Clair was away. The prosecution countered that St. Clair had spent 20 years dreaming up a new batch of lies that could pin everything on his partner, but the physical evidence didn’t support his changed story.
Sources: 11/16/11 AP Alert – OK 18:32:23, 2/2/12 AP Alert – KY 11:00:50.
By: a jury
Date of crime: October 1991
Victim: Frank Brady
Prosecution’s case/defense response: St. Clair and his accomplice escaped from prison and went on a multistate crime spree. They kidnapped the victim to steal his vehicle, took him to a secluded area, and St. Clair shot him execution style. After twice overturning death sentences on judicial error, the jury found aggravating factors of murder while kidnapping and execution style murder existed. St. Clair changed his story for the first time in 20 years claiming that his previous public defender had encouraged him to claim he never came to Kentucky. St. Clair now admitted to being in Kentucky but claimed his accomplice had killed Brady while St. Clair was away. The prosecution countered that St. Clair had spent 20 years dreaming up a new batch of lies that could pin everything on his partner, but the physical evidence didn’t support his changed story.
Sources: 11/16/11 AP Alert – OK 18:32:23, 2/2/12 AP Alert – KY 11:00:50.