Missouri will reduce the risk of suffering if a man has to undergo surgery during his execution

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Missouri Department of Corrections is taking steps to reduce Brian Dorsey’s risk of suffering during his scheduled execution Tuesday, according to an agreement between the state and Dorsey’s attorneys.

The settlement filed Saturday ends a federal lawsuit that said Dorsey could face enormous pain if he had to undergo what is known as a reduction procedure to find a suitable vein for injecting the lethal dose of pentobarbital. Dorsey, 52, is awaiting execution for killing his cousin and her husband in 2006.

Dorsey is described as obese, has diabetes and is a former intravenous drug user — all factors that could make it more difficult to find a vein for the injection, his lawyers said. A cutting procedure involves an incision that can be several inches wide, then using forceps to separate tissue to access a vein.

Missouri’s execution protocol makes no provision for anesthetics. Dorsey’s lawyers had argued that without local anesthesia, Dorsey could be in so much pain that it would interfere with his right to religious freedom in his final moments by preventing him from having meaningful interaction with his spiritual advisor, including the administration of last rites.

The regulation does not specify specific changes accepted by the state, or whether anesthetics would be used if a step-down procedure is necessary. A Department of Corrections spokeswoman declined to comment Monday. A message was left with the Missouri Attorney General’s office.

Arin Brenner, Dorsey’s attorney, said the settlement was not public and declined to discuss specific details.

“We have received sufficient assurance that adequate pain relief will be provided,” Brenner said in an email Monday.

Dorsey, formerly of Jefferson City, was convicted of killing Sarah and Ben Bonnie on Dec. 23, 2006, at their home near New Bloomfield. Prosecutors said that earlier in the day, Dorsey called Sarah Bonnie looking to borrow money to pay two drug dealers who were in his apartment.

Dorsey went to the Bonnies’ house that evening. After they went to bed, Dorsey took a shotgun from the garage and killed them both before sexually assaulting Sarah Bonnie’s body, prosecutors said.

Sarah Bonnie’s parents found the bodies the next day. The couple’s 4-year-old daughter was unhurt.

Dorsey’s lawyers said he was suffering from drug-induced psychosis at the time of the killings. In prison, he became sober, they said, and a clemency petition before Republican Gov. Mike Parson focuses on Dorsey’s virtually impeccable record of good behavior.

Among those urging Parson to commute Dorsey’s sentence to life in prison are 72 current and former state correctional officers. “The Brian I’ve known for years couldn’t hurt anyone,” one officer wrote. “The Brian I know doesn’t deserve to be executed.”

Dorsey’s rehabilitation is also at the heart of a petition filed Sunday with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Another appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court involves the $12,000 flat fee paid to Dorsey’s court-appointed attorneys. He argues that, through the flat fee, the lawyers had a financial incentive to resolve the case quickly. They encouraged Dorsey to plead guilty, but without demanding that prosecutors accept life in prison instead of the death penalty.

In a letter to Parson as part of his clemency request, former Missouri Supreme Court Justice Michael Wolff wrote that he was present in court when it rejected the appeal of his conviction to death in 2009. Today, he says, that decision was wrong.

“Missouri public defenders now no longer use flat fees for defense, in recognition of the professional standard that such an arrangement gives the attorney an inherent financial conflict of interest,” Wolff wrote.