Michael Tisius, a Missouri inmate sentenced to death for fatally shooting a pair of jailers during a botched escape attempt, is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday.
Tisius is set to die by lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre for killing Leon Egley and Jason Acton at a small Randolph County Jail more than 20 years ago. At the time, he was being held on a misdemeanor charge at the Huntsville facility alongside inmate Roy Vance, who asked Tisius — who was just days away from being freed — to help him escape after his release, according to court documents.
Tisius, 19 years old at the time, returned to the jail alongside Vance’s girlfriend, Tracie Burlington, just after midnight on June 22, 2000. They told Egley and Acton they were there to deliver cigarettes to Vance, but the unarmed prison workers were not aware Tisius had a pistol with him.
At trial, Burlington testified that she looked up and saw Tisius with the firearm drawn, then watched as he gunned down Acton. When Egley approached, Tisius shot him too, she said.
Tisius then nabbed the keys to Vance’s cell and tried to open the door. Egley, critically wounded, again attempted to stop Tisius, who in turn shot him several more times.
Both Burlington and Tisius fled without freeing Vance, but their car broke down later that same day in Kansas. They were arrested in Wathena, about 130 miles outside of Huntsville and Tisius ultimately confessed to the crimes.
Both Burlington and Vance are serving life sentences on murder convictions in connection with the escape attempt.
In the years since, Tisius’ legal team on several occasions have appealed his death sentence. On Monday, Gov. Mike Parson declined to grant him clemency, clearing the way for his execution.
“It’s despicable that two dedicated public servants were murdered in a failed attempt to help another criminal evade the law,” Parson, a Republican, said in a statement. “The state of Missouri will carry out Mr. Tisius’ sentences according to the Court’s order and deliver justice.”
His death will mark the third person in Missouri, and the 12th person nationally, to be executed in 2023.