George Mercer

George C. "Tiny" Mercer (August 31, 1944 – January 6, 1989) was an American man who was convicted for the rape and murder of 22-year-old Karen Keeton in Belton, Missouri, on August 31, 1978. At the time of the murder, Mercer had a charge pending against him of raping a 17-year-old girl. He was executed at the age of 44 by the state of Missouri by lethal injection. He became the first person to be executed in Missouri since 1965. His execution was carried out in the former gas chamber which was converted to use lethal injection.

Murder of Karen Keeton Late on August 30, 1978, George Mercer went drinking with friends from one of his motorcycle gangs at a lounge in Grandview, Missouri. While there, he noticed 22-year-old Karen Ann Keeton, who was working at the lounge as a waitress, and commented to a friend that he would like to sleep with her. Prior to the day of the murder, Mercer and Keeton had never met. One of Mercer's friends, Steven Gardner, approached Keeton and invited her out to breakfast with him, after which the two would visit Mercer's house in Belton, Missouri. His plan was to hand Keeton over to Mercer as a "birthday present," since the next day was Mercer's 34th birthday.

Mercer then left the lounge with David Gee, a fellow gang member, and went back to his Belton home, arriving shortly after midnight on August 31. Another of Mercer's friends, John Allen Campbell, was already at the house babysitting Mercer's 10-year-old daughter, who was at the house and witnessed parts of the ensuing assault and murder. Shortly after Mercer and Gee's arrival, Gardner and Keeton arrived at the house as well. Mercer then threatened Keeton with a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun and ordered her to go upstairs to his bedroom. When she hesitated and asked Gardner for help, Gardner responded, "Happy birthday, Tiny," directed towards Mercer. Mercer raped Keeton in his bedroom; later, Gardner sexually assaulted her as well, followed by David Gee. Gardner also stole money from Keeton's purse.

After the multiple sexual assaults were over, Campbell would later testify that he went upstairs to comfort the victim, who was crying; afterwards, he fell asleep. Mercer headed upstairs afterwards, and on his way, he passed Gardner; he asked Gardner what they should do with the victim, and Gardner replied that they should kill Keeton. Mercer agreed. When Gardner asked Mercer if he would need help, Mercer refused and claimed that he knew of a good location to hide the body where it would never be found. Gardner and Gee left the house while Mercer advanced upstairs, where he manually strangled Keeton to death. At one point, Mercer called for Campbell and asked Campbell to take Keeton's pulse, and when Campbell detected a faint pulse, Mercer began striking Keeton's head and body while he continued to strangle her. Campbell again checked for a pulse and found none, at which point Mercer removed Keeton's body from his bed. He ordered Campbell to clean the crime scene and placed his sheets and blanket in his washing machine. Afterwards, Mercer and Campbell loaded Keeton's body into Mercer's pickup truck. while Mercer and Gardner were taken into custody and held without bond at the Cass County Jail. While Mercer awaited trial, he was brought in for a hearing regarding the gang rape of another woman which occurred on August 17, 1978, weeks before Keeton's murder. The victim testified at a hearing in mid-October 1978 that Mercer forcibly removed her from her home and took her to a field near Belton, Missouri, where Mercer and several of his friends raped her.

In 1979, Mercer and Gardner went on trial for first degree murder. Campbell claimed during both a preliminary hearing and the trial itself that he thought Gardner was joking about killing Keeton and that Mercer took the supposedly facetious order seriously. Campbell also claimed that he did not interfere with the rape or murder because he was afraid of Mercer.

Death row and appeals Mercer was admitted to death row on November 9, 1979. Prison officials claimed that the prison staff liked Mercer, who often helped newer condemned men adjust to life on death row Even after having this execution date scheduled, Mercer continued to file legal motions in an attempt to delay his execution; meanwhile, a spokeswoman for then-Missouri Attorney General William L. Webster said, "We'll oppose any attempts to get a stay of execution." Then-governor of Missouri John Ashcroft also indicated that if he received a formal request to delay Mercer's execution, he would reject it.

The execution took place in Missouri's former gas chamber, which had been converted to accommodate a lethal injection gurney. Prior to Mercer's execution, the most recent execution in Missouri had taken place on February 26, 1965, when Lloyd Leo Anderson died by gas inhalation for the murder of a delivery boy during the robbery of a St. Louis drugstore. The Missouri State Penitentiary closed in 2004. Death row inmates are currently held at the facility in Potosi; executions took place there as well until 2005, when the death chamber was moved to the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Missouri.