Missouri prisoner set to be executed

KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 17 (UPI) -- Dennis Skillicorn is to be put to death Wednesday in Missouri, making him the first man the state has executed since 2005, officials said.

The Kansas City Star reported Sunday that barring court intercession or a grant of clemency from Gov. Jay Nixon, he will be injected with a lethal combination of drugs.

Skillicorn was sentenced in 1996 to die for his role in a 1994 crime spree that left three dead. The victims were killed by Skillicorn's accomplice.

The newspaper said that since he came to state prison for the crimes, Skillicorn has become respected by both the corrections staff and his fellow inmates.

"I know he's not the same man who came into prison," said Bill Henry, a volunteer who has worked with Skillicorn for years in a Christian-based group. "The good things he's done you can't even count."

Skillicorn, 49, said good prison deeds are all he can do to try to make amends.

"If I had three lifetimes, I know I can't repay society for the things I've done," he told the newspaper. "But I think we have a responsibility to build up what we once tore down with our criminal behavior."