McDONALD, SAMUEL LEE

DOB: November 7, 1948
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: Male
Date of crime: May 16, 1981
Date of sentencing: May 19, 1982
Date of execution: September 24, 1997

Legal status:

Last counsel of record:
Michael A. Gross
438 S. Hanley Rd.
St Louis, Missouri 63105
(314) 727-4910

Last judicial decision:

--Petition for habeas corpus under U.S. Supreme Court's original jurisdiction, and application for stay of execution, denied by In re McDonald, 521 U.S. 1146 (1997).

Reported Opinions:

--Conviction and sentence affirmed on direct appeal by State v. McDonald, 661 S.W.2d 497 (Mo. banc 1983), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1009 (1985).

--Stay of execution granted pending petition for certiorari. See McDonald v. Missouri, 464 U.S. 1306 (1984).

--Denial of post-conviction relief affirmed by McDonald v. State, 758 S.W.2d 101 (Mo. App. E.D. 1988).

--Habeas corpus denied by McDonald v. Delo, 897 F.Supp. 1224 (E.D. Mo. 1995), aff'd sub nom., McDonald v. Bowersox, 101 F.3d 588 (8th Cir. 1996), cert. denied, 521 U.S. 1127 (1997).

--Motion to file a second or successive petition for habeas corpus denied by McDonald v. Bowersox, 125 F.3d 1183 (8th Cir. 1997).

--Petition for habeas corpus under U.S. Supreme Court's original jurisdiction, and application for stay of execution, denied by In re McDonald, 521 U.S. 1146 (1997).

Significant legal issues:

--Applicability of aggravating circumstance that Mr. McDonald killed the victim for pecuniary gain, when the facts demonstrated that the victim was killed only after Mr. McDonald had taken his wallet (this was the only aggravating circumstance presented in the case, and the aggravating circumstance for a murder committed in the course of a robbery had not been enacted at the time of Mr. McDonald's offense)

--Trial counsel's failure to properly request a mental examination of Mr. McDonald, and the trial court's refusal of the less-then-proper request

--Prosecutor's allegedly improper closing argument during the penalty phase, including prosecutor's assurance to the jury that a death sentence would be reviewed "many times' if imposed (Eighth Circuit held that Caldwell v. Mississippi, which was decided after Mr. McDonald's conviction became final, did not apply retroactively to cases on habeas review).

--Penalty phase instruction effectively requiring jury to find mitigating circumstances unanimously

Return to executed case list