Bonne Terre — At 12:01 AM CDT, Donald Jones, 38, was executed for murdering his grandmother in 1994. He was killed by lethal injection. He was the first to die in Missouri's new death chamber. His execution was the 63rd to take place since 1989.
Jones claimed that he was high on PCP laced crack cocaine when he arrived at his grandmother's house to ask for money so he could buy more drugs. When the St. Louis woman refused his request, he beat her with a butcher's block and stabbed her.
Gov. Matt Blunt refused to grant Jones clemency in the case. All other appeals had failed as well. The family, including the victim's two sons, had hoped that the Governor would commute his sentence to life without parole.
