Steve Parkus was removed from death row on April 14, 2007, when the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed a lower court judgment finding that Steve is mentally retarded and therefore ineligible for execution under Atkins v. Virginia and Missouri statute. PILC lawyers have been fighting his execution since 1990.

Steve was sentenced to death in 1986 for the homicide of Mark Steffenhagen, a fellow prisoner in the Missouri State Penitentiary. The main issue at his trial was his background, character and mental condition. The jury that sentenced him to die knew very little about his traumatic childhood or his severely impaired mental condition.

Steve was born in 1960 to Linda and J.W. Parkus, both of whom were alcoholics. Linda was prone to terrible mood swings and refused to feed, diaper, or care for Steve and his younger brother, Chester. Steve was "slow" in learning to walk and talk. Georgetown neurologist Jonathan Pincus found that Steve has physical deformities and intellectual impairments that "are stigmata of maternal fetal alcohol effect," a deformity caused by the mother's excessive drinking during pregnancy On one occasion, Steve's mother locked him in the bathroom with Chester. Steve climbed out the window and wandered around until a police officer found him and brought him home. After the police left, Steve's mother heated a knife over the stove and burned his buttocks with the hot blade. A juvenile court judge took Steve out of the home, and placed him with his maternal great-uncle, Taylor Hampton, a sadistic pedophile. Dr. Pincus described Steve’s upbringing:

Dr. Pincus noted burn scars on Mr. Parkus' buttocks, and scars on his head and right index finger. In 1968, child welfare committed Steve for mental health treatment. Dr. Mildred Berland, Ph.D., described Steve as a "friendly, verbal little boy, 8 years, 5 months of age." She wrote, Intelligence testing placed Mr. Parkus in the "mental defective" range. Dr. Berland suspected that Steve "had been molested during mother's numerous affairs." She concluded that "he is very unstable at this time and may be psychot-ic." Although Steve was eight years old, he "speaks and talks like a boy of 4 or 5 years of age." It was reported that "Steve did not play with other children and had no friends." Another doctor observed, "he doesn't know how to play. He talks a lot but it makes no sense. He never asks for anything like toys, ice cream, donuts, etc. . . .  He said that he has bad dreams almost every night, about monsters who have fights inside his body.'" The doctor concluded, "this is a case of a borderline psychotic boy with possible mild mental retardation." An EEG yielded abnormal results indicative of brain damage. In July and August of 1970, Marjorie S. Baker, Ph.D., concluded that "the prognosis is reasonably favorable if Steve continues to receive the kind of therapy which he is currently receiving and utilizing." Less than four months later, Mr. Parkus was readmitted for in-patient treatment at St. Louis State Hospital protect him from his uncle. He was ten years old. He was diagnosed as suffering from "schizo-phrenia, childhood type and mental retardation, mild, psycho-social environmental deprivation."

In spite of his obvious mental deficiencies, Steve was discharged from the hospital on June 22, 1973, at age 12. Unfortunately, he was returned to the Hampton home, and he once again ran away from home. Four months later, Steve was placed in juvenile detention and treated as a delinquent. After a series of "failed placements," he was transferred to the Missouri Training School for Boys in Booneville, Missouri, at age 16. During an attempt to escape, Steve assaulted Ms. Mary Fisher, a teacher at the MTS.

Steve was certified to stand trial as an adult for the assault. While awaiting trial in the Booneville jail, his small size allowed him to squeeze through a window. Six blocks away from the jail, he confronted Cynthia Higbee in her back yard. She allowed him inside to use the telephone. Inside, Mr. Parkus grabbed her throat. She screamed, "Get out," and he complied. She was not seriously injured. Steve was charged with escape and assault, and was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Mr. Parkus arrived at the Missouri State Penitentiary at the age of 17. Because of his youth and small stature, Mr. Parkus was victimized physically and sexually. Randolph Cleveland, an inmate, saw Mr. Parkus being raped and abused by inmates and prison guards when he arrived in prison at age 17. Guards pushed Mr. Parkus down the walk in front of the prisoners' cells, naked, and asking, "You want him in the cell?" Cleveland says that "when Steve came in the penitentiary money started changing hands. When a guy like this comes in the penitentiary the first thing that happens is money starts changing hands . . . . who is going to buy him, and how much is he going to be sold. That's the first that happens." Another prisoner, John Brown, testified that he saw Mr. Parkus raped by prisoners three different times. He said that prison guards facilitated a couple of the rapes. Prison docu-ments indicate that he was sold by one inmate to another for use a sex slave for a price of $60. He was raped and beaten many times.

Dr. Henry Guhleman, Jr., M.D. in a January, 1980, psychiatric report concludes:

In 1980, Louise Harshbarger came to the penitentiary to teach a class. Mr. Parkus sexually assaulted her in a prison classroom. He received two consecutive 30 year sentences for that offense.

In the penitentiary, Mr. Parkus met Mark Steffenhagen, who, like Mr. Parkus, was small in stature, mentally retarded, and victimized by other inmates. The two men had a homosexu-al relationship. They talked about their abuse by other prisoners, and discussed suicide as a way to end their suffering. On November 24, 1985, Mr. Parkus went into Steffenhagen's cell and choked him to death as they were having sex. When interrogated, he explained:

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Steve was charged with first degree murder, and in September, 1986, and was defended by a Missouri public defender. His lawyer searched for mental health records through the Division of Youth Services, but found only a single document containing a partial placement summary; authorities told him that Steve’s records had been destroyed. Without the benefit of Steve’s treatment records, neither the state nor defense mental health experts diagnosed him with a mental disorder. The sole defense at trial was that Mr. Parkus did not deliberate upon his conduct, which is the mental element under Missouri law for first degree murder. RSMo. §  565.030 (1986). Steve’s mental state was the only contested issue at trial. On January 23, 1987, a jury sentenced Steve to death.

Steve’s conviction was affirmed on appeal. State v. Parkus, 753 S.W.2d 881 (Mo. banc 1988). In his state postconviction proceedings, Steve was defended by an even less experienced public defender. Without the benefit of accurate information about Steve’s background and mental condition, the Missouri Supreme Court again affirmed his sentence of death. Parkus v. State, 781 S.W.2d 545 (Mo. banc 1989).

With the help of inmate paralegal Doyle Williams, Steve filed a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court. He was represented by PILC attorney Sean O’Brien and co-counsel Marianne Marxkors, who found the records of St. Louis State Hospital detailing Steve’s tragic childhood and severe mental disorders. The mental health experts who examined Steve at his trial reviewed the newly discovered records and reconsidered their findings. The defense expert concluded that Steve suffers from chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia, organic delusional disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and mild mental retardation. The state’s expert concluded that Steve suffers from brain damage. They both believe that Steve is not guilty of murder because of his mental disabilities. Even though Steve clearly did not have a fair trial, federal courts denied habeas corpus relief on procedural grounds. Parkus v. Delo, 33 F.3d 933 (8th Cir. 1994); Parkus v. Bowersox, 157 F.3d 1136 (8th Cir. 1998).

Steve’s mental condition steadily worsened on death row. When his appeals ran out, the Director of the Department of Corrections issued a statutory notice that there are reasonable grounds to question Mr. Parkus’ competence for execution. While those proceedings were pending, the United States Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002) found that the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of persons with mental retardation. Mr. O’Brien and Missouri Public Defender Nancy McKerrow asked the Missouri Supreme Court to set aside Steve’s death sentence in light of that decision.

In July, 2004, a hearing was held before the Honorable Robert Stillwell, who found that Steve has mental retardation and should not be executed. The Missouri Attorney General appealed that finding, and the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed Judge Stillwell’s order and commuted Steve’s sentence to life imprisonment.

Steve Parkus and PILC owe a debt of gratitude to many who contributed to the seventeen-year effort to stop his execution. The result might have been different without the substantial and generous contribution of time and expertise by mental health experts Denis Keyes, William S. Logan, William A. O’Connor, and Jonathan Pincus. Our co-counsel Marianne Marxkors and Nancy McKerrow provided crucial support at critical stages in Steve’s case. Many interns, many of whom are now seasoned lawyers, worked on Steve’s case over the years, including Jace Fletcher, Andrew Lorie, April McLaughlin, Jennifer Merrigan and Sabrina Sullivan.

Attorney General's Brief

Post-hearing Brief

Missouri Supreme Court Opinion

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