KILGORE, BRUCE

DOB: August 28, 1960
Race: African-American
Gender: Male

Crime and Trial

County of conviction: St. Louis City
Number of counts: One
Race of victim: African-American
Gender of victim: Female
Date of crime: August 25, 1986
Date of sentencing: November 12, 1987
Date of execution: June 16, 1999

Legal status:

Last counsel of record:
Burton H. Shostak
Moline & Shostak
8015 Forsyth
St. Louis, MO 63105
314-725-3200

Cheryl A. Rafert
P.O. Box 19763
St. Louis, MO 63144
314-963-9697

Last judicial decision:

--Motion to file second or successive petition for habeas corpus, and for stay of execution, denied by Kilgore v. Bowersox, 181 F.3d 895 (8th Cir. 1999).

Reported Opinions:

--Conviction and sentence affirmed on direct appeal by State v. Kilgore, 771 S.W.2d 57 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 874 (1989).

--Denial of post-conviction relief affirmed Kilgore v. State, 791 S.W.2d 393 (Mo. banc 1990).

--Denial of subsequent motion for state post-conviction relief affirmed by Schleeper v. State, 982 S.W.2d 252 (1998), cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1093 (1999).

--Denial of habeas corpus affirmed by Kilgore v. Bowersox, 124 F.3d 985 (8th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 524 U.S. 942 (1998).

--Petition for writ of habeas corpus and application for stay of execution (filed under U.S. Supreme Court original jurisdiction), denied by In re Kilgore, 527 U.S. 1016 (1999).

--Motion to file second or successive petition for habeas corpus, and for stay of execution, denied by Kilgore v. Bowersox, 181 F.3d 895 (8th Cir. 1999).

Significant legal issues:

--prosecution's misconduct in arguing during the guilt phase that Mr. Kilgore was aiding and abetting his accomplice, then arguing during the penalty phase that Mr. Kilgore actually stabbed the victim (NOTE: the accomplice, Willie Luckett, was sentenced to life imprisonment in a separate trial)

--penalty phase instruction requiring jury to find mitigating circumstances unanimously, in violation of Mills v. Maryland

--prosecution's use of five peremptory challenges to strike all remaining black members of the jury panel, resulting in an all-white jury

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