Darrell Mease

Case overview

Darrell Mease was prosecuted in the case of State of Missouri v. Darrell Mease, 842 S.W. 2d 98 (Mo. banc 1992). He manufactured and sold methamphetamine with Lloyd Lawrence in 1987, and the relationship between the two men later became strained. Mease was convicted of the murders of three people in southwest Missouri in 1988 and was sentenced to death in 1990.

Background

During 1987, Darrell Mease became acquainted with Lloyd Lawrence and participated in the manufacture and sales of methamphetamine. Lloyd Lawrence told Mease that he would teach him how to manufacture the drug. When this did not occur, the relationship between the two men became strained.

In late 1987, Lloyd Lawrence gave Mease some pills which made him sick. Fearing for his safety, Mease and his girlfriend, Mary Epps, left the Taney County, Missouri area in December 1987. Before leaving, Mease took four pounds of crank and four bottles of a chemical used in the manufacturing process from Lawrence. He placed the goods in a backpack and hid them in the Reed Springs, Missouri area.

Mease and Epps traveled across the country until they returned to Missouri in May 1988. Mease had learned in a telephone conversation with his mother that Lloyd Lawrence was going to kill him. Mease decided he needed to return to Missouri in order to settle his differences with Lawrence.

Mease built a concealed position near the road that led to the Lawrence residence.

The offence

On May 15, 1988, at about noon, Mease observed Lloyd Lawrence, Lloyd’s wife Frankie Lawrence, and their grandson Willie Lawrence riding four wheeled all terrain vehicles. Willie passed Mease while Mease was hiding in a nearby wooded area.

As Lloyd and Frankie Lawrence passed Mease, he fired twice with a shotgun, hitting Lloyd and Frankie. Mease then shot Lloyd a second time with the shotgun. Mease then came out of his hiding spot.

Willie Lawrence then turned around and Mease shot Willie Lawrence with the shotgun. Mease then shot each member of the Lawrence family in the head with the shotgun.

After the shootings, Mease took Lloyd’s wallet, a watch and two rings. He removed $600 from the wallet and hid it under a nearby log.

Mease made his escape with Mary Epps and they left Missouri, traveling to various states across the country.

Investigation and arrest

In January 1989, Mease was arrested in Arizona on two outstanding felony nonsupport warrants from Stone County, Missouri and an Unlawful Use of a Weapons warrant from Taney County, Missouri. He was returned to Missouri where he confessed to the murders of the Lawrences.

Trial and sentencing

Mease was convicted of killing Lloyd J. Lawrence, Frankie M. Lawrence, and William Lawrence, and he was scheduled to be executed on Feb. 10, although it originally had been scheduled for the week of the pope's visit.

Appeals

The case citation included State of Missouri v. Darrell Mease, 842 S.W. 2d 98 (Mo. banc 1992).

Outcome

Mease’s death sentence was commuted to life without parole at the request of Pope John Paul II on January 27, 1999.

Aftermath

Mease was described as having been scheduled to be executed on the day Pope John Paul the second arrived in Missouri in 1999 for a 31-hour visit. It was stated that Mease’s execution was delayed until after the Pope had gone home, and that it never happened.

A few electric seconds between the Pope and Governor Mel Carnahan were described as having made the difference. The Pope asked Carnahan to show mercy to Mease. A few days later, Carnahan commuted Mease’s sentence to life without parole.

In reporting about the commutation, Mease was described as 52 years old, and it was stated that the governor honored a personal request for mercy from Pope John Paul II and spared Mease from the death chamber. It was stated that Mease was supposed to be executed on Feb. 10, and that the execution had been postponed with no explanation.

The governor said the Pope did not address specifics of Mease's case. The governor also said he did not plan to look differently at other death penalty cases, and he said:

"I continue to support capital punishment, but after careful consideration of his direct and personal appeal and because of a deep and abiding respect for the pontiff and all he represents, I decided last night to grant his request,'' Carnahan said Thursday.

A Vatican spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, was said to have praised the "generous decision" of the governor when he learned the news.

Laura Higgins Tyler, an attorney for Mease, said the inmate was "awestruck" and stated:

"Darrell has remained very steadfast to his faith in that he would receive relief from God,'' she said. "I'd say this sure looks like a miracle to me.''

During a morning Mass on Wednesday at the Trans World Dome in St. Louis, the Pope made anti-death penalty comments in a 30-minute homily, and it was stated that he said:

"I renew the appeal I made most recently at Christmas for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary,'' the pope said in his 30-minute homily.

It was also stated that the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, met with Carnahan and relayed the Pope's plea for Mease.

It was stated that later, the Pope personally asked the governor to "extend mercy" to Mease.

Jim Justus, described as the lead prosecutor in the case against Mease, was said to have stated that he still felt Mease deserved to be executed and that he said:

"I'm disappointed with his decision,'' Justus said, "but I respect it.''

The Department of Corrections had been trying for two months to track down relatives of the victims, described as a standard practice prior to an execution, but it had not been able to find anyone.

Mease’s murders were described as involving the three victims in southwest Missouri: Lloyd J. Lawrence, 69; Frankie M. Lawrence, 56; and William Lawrence, 19. Mease confessed that he had hidden along a path near the Lawrences' farmhouse and shot them with a 12-gauge shotgun while they rode by on all-terrain vehicles.

In later discussion, Darrell Mease was described as saying that he believed the Pope had saved his physical life. It was stated that Mease believes the Pope was sent to Missouri by God at that specific time to save him, and that Mease said he is a born-again Christian. It was stated that Mease dismissed talk that he was alive because of publicity and circumstance and that he said it was God's will for him to be alive, just as he said it would be God's will that he would someday walk out of the prison at Potosi a free man.