Michael Tisius is scheduled for execution in Missouri on June 6, 2023 for the 2000 murders of Leon Egley and Jason Acton.

NOTICE: As of May 31, 2023, this execution is under a temporary stay granted by a federal district court to allow a hearing on the question of if Mr. Tisius's rights were violated because a member of his jury could not read or write. This stay is likely to be challenged and may be overturned. Please sig this petition for delivery in the event that the stay is vacated.

The following is from Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Background. The effects of Michael’s lifelong trauma were apparent when he became homeless as a teenager and had to live on the streets. By the time Michael was in ninth grade, he was homeless. As a teenager on his own and without a stable home, Michael had begun getting in trouble for stealing.

In 2000, Michael rented a stereo system, and instead of returning it, he pawned it. He was arrested in Randolph County for failure to return property, a misdemeanor charge. He was incarcerated at Randolph County Jail for that charge when he met Roy Vance. He was 19; Vance was 27.

Roy Vance was there because he had escaped from another small Missouri jail and was expected to spend 50 years in prison. Vance gave Michael attention and positive reinforcement that he never had growing up. Other people housed in the same pod described Michael as idolizing Vance and noted that Vance was clearly grooming Michael to do his bidding.

Who is Roy Vance? Dr. Stephen M. Peterson is one of many psychiatrists who has evaluated Michael throughout his 20-plus years of incarceration. The first time was in 2003, and he noted that Michael’s history of severe physical abuse by his older brother rendered him “very vulnerable to manipulation by an idealized figure such as Roy Vance.”

When Michael was released, Vance gave him instructions to help him escape. He returned to the jail later that evening with Vance’s girlfriend to attempt the escape. In these intense emotional circumstances, Mr. Tisius panicked and shot two jailers, Jason Acton and Leon Egley. Despite there being no evidence that any of the co-conspirators deliberated or intended to commit murder, Michael was sentenced to death in 2010. Vance and his girlfriend both received life sentences for the attempted escape.

Sign and share the petition to Governor Parson, asking him to show mercy and commute Michael Tisius’s sentence to Life Without Parole.

In continuing to schedule executions, Missouri makes itself an outlier in its use of the death penalty. In fact, since the pandemic began, Missouri has been one of only a handful of states that has carried out an execution since 2020.

The majority of other states are on a downward trend of executions, and increasingly, states are abolishing the practice altogether, including the southern state of Virginia, which repealed its death penalty law in 2021.

Please sign the petition asking Governor Mike Parson to do everything within his power to stop this execution, including issuing a stay, and seeking a path to clemency in the case.

Petitions will be delivered on your behalf in the days leading up to the execution.