A Missouri death row inmate is outraged at how his attorneys handled his clemency petition, which was rejected Monday by Governor Mike Parson.
David Hosier, 69, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday, over a decade after he was convicted for the 2009 slayings of Angela Gilpin, 45, and Rodney Gilpin, 61, the Associated Press reported.
He maintains his innocence to this day, and much to his dismay, his defense team wrote a clemency petition that focused on how a 16-year-old Hosier sustained serious trauma from when his father was killed in the line of duty as an Indiana State Police sergeant.
He told the Associated Press in a phone interview that the mercy plea should have focused on the lack of forensic evidence tying him to the Gilpin murders. His lawyers also claimed in a failed 2019 appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court that there were no eyewitnesses to the crime.
‘They did exactly the opposite of what I wanted them to do,’ Hosier said. ‘I told them I didn’t want the “boo-hoo, woe is me.” All that stuff happened 53 years ago, OK? It has nothing to do with why I’m sitting here right now.’
This photo, provided by Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, shows inmate David Hosier, Friday, June 7, 2024, at Potosi Correctional Center in Potosi, Missouri
Angela Gilpin and Rodney Gilpin were shot to death in 2009. David Hosier was in a romantic relationship with Angela while the married couple was on a break and prosecutors say Hosier killed them after they got back together
His father, Glen Hosier, was shot dead by a murder suspect in 1971 when he was entering a house.
Larry Komp, a federal public defender and one of Hosier’s attorneys, didn’t address his client’s dissatisfaction but kept on message in a statement he shared with the Associated Press.
‘It sends the wrong message to execute and marginalize a veteran and an individual harmed by the tragedy of his father being killed in the line of duty, which spun his life into a different direction,’ Komp wrote in an email.
‘The context of his life history with the paucity of evidence related to his guilt makes this a compounding of tragedies, nothing is gained by killing him.’
The Gilpins were found shot to death on September 29, 2009, in the hallway of Angela’s Jefferson City apartment.
Hosier’s motive for killing them was that he was romantically involved with Angela while she was separated from Rodney sometime in 2008 or 2009, according to court records.
Hosier completely disagrees with the strategy his lawyers took in the clemency plea, telling the Associated Press that his father was killed 53 years ago
When Angela made the decision to get back with her husband in the summer of 2009, Hosier was overheard saying that if she didn’t ‘come back with him’ then he ‘would put a stop to it somehow.’
‘Ms. Angela Gilpin had her life stolen by David Hosier because he could not accept it when she ended their romantic involvement. He displays no remorse for his senseless violence,” Parson said regarding his rejection of Hosier’s clemency plea. ‘For these heinous acts, Hosier earned maximum punishment under the law.’
The Republican, a former Polk County sheriff for 22 years, has overseen 10 executions since taking the governorship in 2018.
In the days before the Gilpins were killed, Hosier allegedly made comments to others threatening to attack Angela.
And after the shootings, police discovered two crucial pieces of evidence in Angela’s purse: an application for a protective order and another document where she wrote about her fears that Hosier would shoot her and her husband.
Republican Governor of Missouri Mike Parson rejected Hosier’s clemency plea, which almost guarantees his execution next Tuesday
At that point, Hosier became the prime suspect for police, who tracked him down to Oklahoma using cell phone tower data.
When they caught up with Hosier and stopped his car, court records show he got out and told the officers, ‘Shoot me, and get it over with.’
Authorities searched his car, finding 15 firearms, 400 rounds of ammunition and other weapons.
A submachine gun they found is the weapon investigators believe Hosier shot the Gilpins with, though tests on it were inconclusive, the Associated Press reported.
Hosier explained all of this away by saying he wasn’t on the run, rather he was on a long drive to clear his mind. The guns were with him because he was an avid hunter, he said.
Hosier has however acknowledged his romantic relationship with Angela.
If Hosier is executed next week, which is likely since his lawyers said they don’t have any appeals up their sleeves, he will be the second inmate to be executed in Missouri this year.
Brian Dorsey, 52, was executed by lethal injection in April for killing his cousin and her husband.