Death row inmate is executed for killing his cousin and her husband

A Missouri death row inmate has been executed by the state less than 10 hours after the governor and the United States Supreme Court denied him clemency.’

Brian Dorsey, 52, died after a single-dose injection of the sedative pentobarbital at the state prison in Bonne Terre at 6.11pm Tuesday night.

It came after Dorsey released a final statement Tuesday morning, where he said: ‘Words cannot hold the just weight of my guilt and shame.’

 He also had his final meal served to him, which included two bacon double cheeseburgers, two orders of chicken strips, two large orders of fries, and a pizza with sausage, pepperoni, onion, mushrooms, and extra cheese, according to the state department of corrections.

Dorsey shot his cousin Sarah and her husband Benjamin Bonnie, 28, in their Missouri home in 2006.

Republican Governor Mike Parson denied clemency for Dorsey despite a petition that garnered statements from 72 current and ex-corrections officers who vouched that he was reformed.  

The United States Supreme Court also refused to stop it after denying two separate appeals.

Both appeals were turned aside without comment. One cited Dorsey’s record of good behavior since his incarceration and said he should not be put to death because he has been rehabilitated.

The other appeal said his life should be spared because his trial lawyers had a conflict of interest.

The pair of public defenders were paid a $12,000 flat fee that provided them with no incentive to invest time in his case, the appeal said.

On their recommendation, Dorsey pleaded guilty despite having no agreement with prosecutors that he would be spared the death penalty.

Dorsey killed his cousin and her husband inside their central Missouri home two days before Christmas in 2006, leaving their 4-year-old daughter alone in the home.

 
Kirk Henderson, one of Dorsey’s attorneys, said Dorsey ‘has spent every day of the past 18 years trying to make up for the single act of violence’ he committed in 2006.

 ‘Executing Brian Dorsey is a pointless cruelty, an exercise of the State´s power that serves no legitimate penological purpose,’ Henderson said in a statement.

 Dorsey, 52, formerly of Jefferson City, was convicted of killing Sarah and Ben Bonnie on Dec. 23, 2006, at their home near New Bloomfield.

Dorsey would be the first person put to death in Missouri this year after four executions in 2023.

Another man, David Hosier, is scheduled for execution on June 11 for the killing of a Jefferson City woman in 2009.