BONNE TERRE, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Corrections carried out its execution of a man convicted of killing two Randolph County jailers in 2000.
Michael Tisius gunned down unarmed guards Jason Acton and Leon Egley while attempting to break Roy Vance out of jail. Tisius was joined by Vance’s girlfriend, Tracie Bulington, during the crime. The jailbreak was unsuccessful after Tisius and Bulington failed to find the keys to unlock Vance’s cell.
Tisius and Bulington were arrested later that day in Wathena, Kansas.
The execution was carried out at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Missouri. Tisius, 42, died via lethal injection. He was declared dead by 6:10 p.m.
Tisius made a written final statement in the days leading up to his execution.
I am holding tightly to my faith. It’s all I have to take with me. 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. I really did try to become a better man. I really tried hard to give as much as I could to as many as I could. I tried to forgive others as I wish to be forgiven. And I pray that God will forgive those who condemn me. Just as the forgave those who condemned Him. I am sorry. And not because I am at the end. But because I truly am sorry.
And I need to say that I love you Truffle.
Seacrest Out!
Final statement by Michael Tisius; taken June 3, 2023
Meanwhile, Burlington and Vance are serving life sentences for the failed jailbreak and murders.
Last week, a federal judge granted a temporary stay following a claim from defense attorneys that a juror who sentenced Tisius to die was illiterate. The death penalty was later reinstated by an appeals panel.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to stop the execution. That same day, Missouri Governor Mike Parson denied a clemency request.
Tisius is the third person executed by the state in 2023.
On Jan. 3, the state executed Amber McLaughlin, the first openly transgender inmate to be executed.
McLaughlin was sentenced to death on Nov. 3, 2006, for the murder of ex-girlfriend Beverly Guenther. During the 2005 trial, prosecutors said McLaughlin, then known as Scott, stalked Guenther, abducted her as she left her job, and stabbed her to death.
The Missouri Department of Corrections executed Leonard Taylor on Feb. 7 for the November 2004 murders of his girlfriend and her three young children.
