Walter Barton, 64, was convicted in 2006 of the 1991 murder of Gladys Kuehler, an 81-year-old woman who was stabbed to death in Ozark, Missouri (Jose ROMERO)

Washington (AFP) – The US state of Missouri is set to execute a death row inmate by lethal injection on Tuesday, the first execution in the United States after a two-and-a-half-month hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Walter Barton, 64, was convicted in 2006 of the 1991 murder of Gladys Kuehler, an 81-year-old woman who was stabbed to death in Ozark, Missouri.

Barton’s lawyers filed a last-minute appeal for a stay of execution with the US Supreme Court, but the court denied the application without commenting on the case.

Barton, who maintains his innocence, was one of three people who discovered Kuehler’s body at the trailer park that she operated.

The main evidence against him were bloodstains found on his clothes and the testimony of a jailhouse informant.

Barton is to be executed at 6:00 pm Central Time on Tuesday (0100 GMT Wednesday) at a prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri, in what would be the first execution in the US since March 5.

Executions have been postponed in Ohio, Texas and Tennessee because of virus concerns related to large gatherings.

A Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman said everyone entering the prison has their temperature checked and there have been no COVID-19 cases among staff or inmates at the facility.

She said there were three separate viewing areas for execution witnesses, who would be divided among the rooms to allow social distancing.

Opponents of the death penalty have proclaimed Barton’s innocence and sought to stop his execution.

“Walter is likely innocent,” a group called Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said in a tweet. “Peoples health and safety will be put at risk, just to make a spectacle.”

In arguing for a stay of execution, Barton’s lawyers cited concerns about the evidence against him.

They pointed out that his first trial ended in a mistrial, the second in a hung jury and convictions in the next two were overturned.

Barton was finally convicted and sentenced to death at a fifth trial in 2006.

Michael Wolff, a former chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court, was among those expressing doubts about Barton’s guilt.

Writing in the St Louis-Post Dispatch, Wolff said the blood spatter evidence against Barton was “utterly inconclusive” and the jailhouse informant’s testimony “strains credulity.”

“Before Missouri moves forward with Barton’s execution, (Governor Mike) Parson should exercise his authority to convene an independent board of inquiry to determine whether the judiciary has ordered the execution of an innocent man,” Wolff said.

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.