Gay Prisoner Executed in Missouri

Feb. 7 -- To his supporters, Stanley Lingar was a victim of homophobia, executed because prosecutors used his sexual orientation to convince jurors to sentence him to death.

To Missouri prosecutors, he is a convicted murderer who was finally punished for the brutal 1985 slaying of an honors student.

Lingar was executed at 12:06 a.m. by lethal injection after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal on Tuesday and Gov. Bob Holden did not grant him clemency.

His last meal was corned beef sandwiches and french fries, and he did not make a final statement. However, his family released a statement on his behalf seeking forgiveness from the family of the victim.

In 1986, Lingar was convicted of abducting and killing 16-year-old Thomas Scott Allen. According to court records, Allen's car ran out of gas outside Doniphan, southeast Missouri. Lingar and David Lee Smith offered him a lift.

They drove Allen to a remote area, and told him to undress and start masturbating. When he refused, Lingar beat him with a tire iron, shot him three times, and ran over him with his car, prosecutors said.

Smith pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced 10 years in prison in exchange for his testimony against Lingar. Smith is now free after completing his sentence.

At trial, Smith testified that Lingar planned the killing and was the triggerman. In arguing for the death penalty, prosecutors introduced alleged evidence of Lingar's "bad character" by having Smith testify he and Lingar had a consensual homosexual relationship for three years.

Homosexuality in ‘John Ashcroft Country’

Lingar's attorneys believe the testimony about his sexual orientation — especially in rural Missouri in 1986 — unfairly prejudiced the jurors, convincing them to sentence him to death.

"In the penalty phase, David Smith — who had already testified against Stanley in the guilt phase — was asked just one question," said Lingar's attorney, Kent Gipson. "When he testified that he and Stanley had engaged in a homosexual relationship, especially in rural Missouri in John Ashcroft country, they [jurors] decided, 'Let's kill him.' His sexual orientation offended the jury … they decided that they should kill him because he was a deviant."