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The execution of a Missouri man scheduled for tonight should be put on hold because his court-appointed lawyers messed up his chance to get an appeal, advocates said in a brief asking the Supreme Court to suspend the sentence.Mark Christeson, 35, was convicted of murdering Susan Brouk and her two children, 12 and 9, in 1998 — when he was 18. His cousin Jessie Carter, who was also convicted of the crimes, was 17 at the time and is serving a life sentence without parole. He was spared the death sentence after agreeing to give evidence against his cousin. According to the Associated Press, Christeson raped Brouk and, when one of her children identified him, the pair then killed the three victims.Christeson is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 12.01am on Wednesday — unless the court approves a stay of execution.Oklahoma shows off its new execution chamber, just in time for world anti-death penalty day. Read more here.Last week, Christeson's new attorneys and 15 former judges filed a brief with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals first, and then, upon rejection, to the Supreme Court, arguing that the man was denied due review process because his then-lawyers missed the deadline to file the appeal.Eric Butts and Philip Horwitz, the court-appointed lawyers that took over Christeson's case in July 2004, had until April 2005 to file the petition seeking federal review. But they were 117 days late when they finally filed, and the court refused to review the case because of the "untimely" request, records show.In fact, the two attorneys did not actually meet Christeson until after the deadline for the appeal had passed. Technically they are still his only official representatives.In their brief, Christeson's new advocates accused Butts and Horwitz of "misconduct" and of "abandonment" and "abject neglect" of their client.But in court documents, Butts and Horwitz argued there was a disagreement about the deadline. "While counsel does not defend the late filing, counsel believes they had a legal basis and rationale for the calculation of the filing date," they stated. "Counsel believed that they timely filed Mr Christeson's petition for writ of habeas corpus."Ohio just doubled down on drug cocktail that tortured a death row inmate before killing him. Read more here.The attorneys now negotiating on Christeson's behalf, Joseph Perkovich and Jennifer Merrigan, became interested in his case after other lawyers contacted by Butts and Horwitz to take on the case flagged their alleged malpractice."We saw from the record that Christeson's appointed lawyers didn't meet him until six weeks after the deadline had passed," Perkovich, a capital punishment expert, told the Guardian. "There was no sign of any legal activity indicating that anything was going on up to and beyond the deadline."Perkovich added that, to this day, Christeson's court-appointed lawyers are yet to hand over documents relating to the case, despite numerous requests. A Missouri court has previously denied requests to substitute Christeson's lawyers, even Merrigan argued that their previous failure to properly represent their client amounts to a "conflict of interest" — a legal ground for substitution."Counsel appear never to have entertained the possibility that by confessing their malpractice, they might have aided their client's case for tolling," the advocates wrote. "Thus, the conflict arose." As the years went by, the brief continues, the lawyers failed to acknowledged their mistake, even though that would have helped Christeson's case.NYCLU: Justice in New York is available only to those who can afford it. Read more here.It is really unusual for death row inmates to face execution without having first had a chance to have their case reviewed in federal court."Not having federal court review means there's been no independent examination regarding the fairness of the trial and the appropriateness of the death sentence," Sarah Turberville, an attorney for the Constitution Project working with the lawyers fighting for a stay, told the AP. "No federal court has been able to address these issues at all."But Christeson's case may highlight a wider problem with court-appointed defendants."Cases, including this one are falling through the cracks of the system," the appealing judges wrote in their brief. "And when the stakes are this high, such failures unacceptably threaten the very legitimacy of the judicial process."Missouri religious leaders have also appealed to governor Jay Nixon to grant Christeson clemency, saying that he is not "mentally competent" for execution.If his execution goes ahead, Christeson will be the ninth person to be put to death in Missouri this year.What should we do about botched executions? Stop executing people. Read more here.Follow Alice Speri on Twitter: @alicesperi
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