NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      ST. LOUIS (CWNews.com) - The Vatican on Monday asked Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan to commute the death sentence of another convicted murderer, six weeks after he commuted a death sentence following a papal plea and then refused to do so again.

      Carnahan reduced the death sentence for Darrell Mease to life in prison after Pope John Paul II issued a personal plea during the papal visit to St. Louis. He later refused to halt the execution of James Rodden. Ray Roberts, 46, is scheduled to die just after midnight on Tuesday by lethal injection for the 1983 murder of a prison guard during a riot. A spokesman for the governor said he is considering the clemency request.

      Roberts has claimed that he was nowhere near guard Tom Jackson when he was killed, and defense attorneys say there are unanswered questions such as why initial incident reports didn't mention Roberts and why there was no blood on his clothes.

      Carnahan was criticized by political opponents when he acceded to papal pleas for clemency on Mease's behalf. The governor said he remains a supporter of the death penalty, but will consider the merits of each clemency request as he receives them.