Abnormal brain and childhood abuse make Missouri man unfit for execution, his lawyers say

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A clemency petition for a Missouri man facing the death penalty for sexually assaulting and killing a child says he was a frequent victim of physical and sexual abuse in his youth and has a “structurally abnormal” brain that impairs his judgment. Christopher Collings is scheduled to die Tuesday. It would be the 23rd execution in the U.S. this year and the fourth in Missouri. Collings was convicted of killing 9-year-old Rowan Ford, a fourth-grader from the tiny southwestern Missouri town of Stella, on Nov. 3, 2007. Her body was found in a sinkhole six days later. She had been strangled.