Attorney Generals News Release

November 22, 1995

Second habeas petition from death row inmate is meritless, Nixon says

Jefferson City, Mo. — A second habeas petition filed by a death row inmate scheduled to die next week has no merit and should be denied quickly by the court, Attorney General Jay Nixon said today. Anthony Joe Larette filed the petition this afternoon with federal district Judge Catherine Perry in St. Louis; Larette is scheduled to die just after midnight next Wednesday morning at the Potosi Correctional Center.

Larette, who has spent the longest amount of time of any inmate currently on Missouri's death row, was convicted in 1981 for the July 1980 murder of 18-year-old Mary Fleming in St. Charles. Larette killed Fleming in her apartment by slashing her throat and stabbing her twice in the chest.

“Anthony Larette is a case study in the need for habeas reform,” Nixon said. “His first habeas petition spent more than seven years in front of the federal district court. That court found that the myriad of issues raised by Larette had no merit, as did the trial court, the state appeals court, the state Supreme Court, the federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

“This second habeas petition is yet another attempt by Larette to manipulate the judicial system beyond any reasonable bounds,” Nixon said. “His days of skillfully delaying the sentence given by a Missouri judge and jury need to come to an end.”

Larette would be the 16th inmate in Missouri to be executed since the reinstatement of the death penalty.

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to Press Secretary John Fougere.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818