US state executes Leon Taylor for killing a suburban Kansas City gas station attendant in 1994

BONNE TERRE, Mo. – A man who killed a gas station attendant in front of the worker’s young stepdaughter in 1994 was put to death early Wednesday — the ninth execution in the U.S. state of Missouri this year.

Leon Taylor, 56, was pronounced dead at 12:22 a.m. (0522 GMT), minutes after receiving a lethal injection.

Taylor shot worker Robert Newton to death in front of Newton’s 8-year-old stepdaughter during a gas station robbery in Missouri. Taylor tried to kill the girl, too, but the gun jammed.

Taylor’s fate was sealed Tuesday when Gov. Jay Nixon declined to grant clemency and the U.S. Supreme Court turned down his appeal.

Taylor, his body covered by a white sheet, could be seen in the execution chamber talking to family members through the glass in an adjacent room. Once the state started injecting 5 grams of pentobarbital, Taylor’s chest heaved for several seconds then stopped. His jaw went slack and he displayed no other movement for the rest of the process.

Four of Taylor’s family members sat in a room to his left and looked on without reaction as the drug killed Taylor in about eight minutes.

In a final statement, Taylor apologized to Newton’s family because “our lives had to entwine so tragically” and thanked his family for their support and love.

Speaking to reporters after the execution, Newton’s brother, Dennis Smith, noted that it had been about 7,500 days since the killing and said the family has missed Newton every one of them.

According to court records, Taylor, his half brother and half sister decided to rob a gas station on April 14, 1994. Newton was at the station with his stepdaughter.

Taylor entered the store, drew a gun and told Newton, 53, to put $400 in a money bag. Newton complied and the half brother, Willie Owens, took the money to the car.

Taylor then ordered Newton and the child to a back room. Newton pleaded with Taylor not to shoot him in front of the little girl, but Taylor shot him in the head. He tried to kill the girl but the gun jammed, so he locked her in the room and the trio drove away.

“She had the gun turned on her,” said Michael Hunt, an assistant prosecutor who worked on the case. “It didn’t fire. If it had fired, we’d have had a double homicide.”

Hunt said the child’s testimony at trial was pivotal in the death sentence.