Missouri executes Michael Tisius in murders of Randolph County jailers in 2000

The state of Missouri on Tuesday evening executed Michael Tisius, who was convicted of fatally shooting two guards during a botched jail escape more than two decades ago.

Tisius, 42, died by lethal injection at 6:10 p.m. at a prison in eastern Missouri.

In a handwritten final statement, Tisius, 42, said he was “sorry it had to come to this” and that he “really did try to become a better man.”

“I am holding tightly to my faith. It’s all I have left to take with me,” he wrote. “I am sorry it had to come to this in this way. I wish I could have made things right while I was still here.”

Tisius was convicted in the killing of two guards in 2000 at the Randolph County jail in central Missouri, during a failed attempt to break out a prisoner he knew. That man, Roy Vance, is serving a life sentence.

Tisius, who was 19 years old at the time of the killings, was put to death despite calls from national and international groups, such as the American Bar Association and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, urging the state to halt the execution.

Lawyers for Tisius filed petitions in state and federal courts in attempts to commute his sentence to life. In late April, attorneys discovered one of the jurors was unable to read or write, a skill required by state law.

A federal judge temporarily halted the execution last week and ordered an evidentiary hearing on the juror’s qualifications. On Friday, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the stay.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied several requests for a stay, including one Tuesday on the juror issue. In that case, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office called the juror requirement “technical” and said Tisius’ sentencing was fair.

“The surviving victims of Tisius’s crimes have waited long enough for justice, and every day longer that they must wait is a day they are denied the chance to finally make peace with their loss,” Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office said.

Tisius’ legal team sought clemency from Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, citing Tisius’ age at the time of the killings, his sense of remorse and Vance’s role in the escape attempt.

Vance has said he was “the brains behind” the plan and that he manipulated Tisius into helping him.

The clemency application also included statements from five jurors who said they support a life sentence instead of the death penalty.

Parson denied clemency. In a statement, he said Tisius “executed” the two guards, Jason Acton and Leon Egley.

“It’s despicable that two dedicated public servants were murdered in a failed attempt to help another criminal evade the law,” Parson said.

Executions take place at Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, about 60 miles south of St. Louis.

Protesters organized by Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty gathered Tuesday in five cities, including Bonne Terre, Kansas City and Jefferson City, to voice opposition to the execution.

In a statement Tuesday evening, lawyers for Tisius said his execution by the state “marks another sad chapter of America’s perverse fascination with state-sanctioned homicide.”

“We teach our preschoolers that two wrongs don’t make a right,” his attorneys said in the one-page statement, adding that Tisius has expressed “everlasting remorse” for the families of the homicide victims. “Today, we watch our adults casually dismiss such eternal guidance. Michael dies in peace and in power.”

Eight witnesses were present for the execution on behalf of the two jail guards. The Missouri Department of Corrections offered family members the opportunity to make a statement following Tisuis’ execution, but they declined, said Karen Pojmann, a department spokeswoman.

For his final meal, Tisius was served two bacon cheeseburgers, curly fries, regular fries and a chocolate shake, Pojmann said.

Tisius was the third person the state has put to death this year. On Jan. 3, Amber McLaughlin became the first transgender woman to be executed in the U.S. Five weeks later, Leonard Taylor, who maintained he was innocent, was executed.

Missouri is one of just four states that has carried out executions this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Fifteen men remain on death row in Missouri. The state has scheduled the execution of Johnny Johnson for Aug. 1. Johnson was convicted of killing a 6-year-old girl.

The Star’s Luke Nozicka and Bill Lukitsch contributed to this report.