60 Corrections Officers Sign Letter Urging Missouri Governor to Stop Execution of ‘Model Inmate’ Who Killed His Cousin, Her Husband.

 60 Corrections Officers Sign Letter Urging Missouri Governor to Stop Execution of ‘Model Inmate’ Who Killed His Cousin, Her Husband

Sixty guards and staff members at a Missouri prison have signed an open letter to their state's governor urging him to grant clemency to a man on death row.

The five dozen signatories said that Brian Dorsey, who is set to be executed by the state in April for a 2006 double murder, is a model inmate who doesn't deserve to die, according to the Kansas City Star.

“We are part of the law enforcement community who believe in law and order. Generally, we believe in the use of capital punishment. But we are in agreement that the death penalty is not the appropriate punishment for Brian Dorsey,” the group said.

Brian Dorsey was convicted of killing his cousin Sarah Bonnie and her husband, Ben Bonnie.Missouri Department of Corrections

Dorsey, who is currently incarcerated at the Potosi Correctional Center south of St. Louis, is the barber for the other inmates. The 51-year-old sleeps in the “honor dorm” for those who display good conduct.

“He’s in one of the most trusted positions in the institution, being the staff barber,” Troy Steele, the former warden at Potosi, told The Star. He said Dorsey has cut his own hair, along with other staff members, and called Dorsey's record “extraordinary.”

“I have no reason to believe that should his sentence be commuted, that his behavior would diminish in any way,” Steele said.

The letter said that Dorsey "has stayed out of trouble, never gotten himself into any situations, and been respectful of us and of his fellow inmates.” It asks that his sentence be reduced to life without parole.

Dorsey was convicted of killing his cousin Sarah Bonnie and her husband Ben Bonnie in central Missouri. Jenni Gerhauser, Dorsey and Sarah’s relative, told The Star she also believes Dorsey's life should be spared.

“We’re very much living in the middle of eye-for-an-eye country. But I wish people would understand it’s not that black and white,” she said.

Dorsey’s attorney Megan Crane has argued that her client was denied a fair right and that he was "experiencing drug psychosis the night of the crime,” The Star reported. Crane says he was pressured to plead guilty.

Missouri executed four people last year. Its Republican governor Mike Parson has never granted a death penalty clemency request since taking office in 2018.