Attempts to halt the execution of Brian Dorsey, convicted of murder, have failed and he is set to be put to death tonight. In his official final statement Dorsey apologized for his crimes and says he holds no ill will or anger towards his executioners.
Two days before Christmas in 2006 prosecutors say Dorsey killed his cousin Sarah Bonnie, and her husband Ben Bonnie, sexually violated her corpse, and left their bodies locked in their bedroom before stealing from their home and fleeing, RFT previously reported. He left their four-year-old alone in the home.
Since his conviction, corrections officers, family members and activists say that Dorsey has become a model inmate and has been rehabilitated.
“Brian Dorsey is kind, gentle, hardworking, and humble. He has spent every day of the past 18 years trying to make up for the single act of violence he committed, serving the prison community as the staff barber and never getting in even the slightest trouble. More than 70 correctional officers, the people who spent day in and day out with him over nearly two decades at Potosi Correctional Center, came together to urge clemency for Brian,” Dorsey’s attorney Kirk Henderson wrote in a statement. “Executing Brian Dorsey is a pointless cruelty, an exercise of the State’s power that serves no legitimate penological purpose.”
The U.S. Supreme Court denied two appeals on Dorsey’s behalf and will not stand in the way of his execution, according to the Associated Press.
Katie Moore, a reporter with the Kansas City Star, shared a photo of the printed form that captured Dorsey’s final statement:
“To all of the family and loved ones I share with Sarah and to all of the surviving family and loved ones of Ben, I am truly deeply overwhelmingly sorry. Words cannot hold the just weight of my guilt and shame. I still love you. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I am sorry I hurt them and you. To my family, friends, and all of those that tried to prevent this, I love you! I am grateful for you. I have peace in my heart in large part because of you and I thank you. To all those on ALL side [s] of this sentence, I carry no ill will or anger, only acceptance and understanding.”
Moore, citing the Department of Corrections, says Dorsey’s final meal was served around 11 a.m. and consisted of: “2 bacon double cheeseburgers, 2 orders of chicken strips, 2 large orders of fries, and a pizza with sausage, pepperoni, onion, mushrooms and extra cheese.”
The execution warrant for Dorsey goes into effect at 6 p.m., and he is likely to be killed by lethal injection within an hour or two of that in Bonne Terre, Missouri. Governor Mike Parson rejected his clemency request.
The state of Missouri has doubled down on its use of capital punishment in recent years, as the RFT reported in a series in 2022 and 2023.
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