Collings’ death penalty sentence upheld
August 20, 2014
Charlea Mills
Christopher Collings, convicted of the murder and rape 9 year-old Rowan Ford in 2007, will still receive the death penalty for the crime after the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the ruling after Colling’s attorney filed an appeal.
Collings admitted to Wheaton Police Chief Clint Clark on video that he had abducted, raped and murdered the girl. His attorney claimed that the video was a violation of his rights and that Collings’ judgment was impaired because of marijuana use before the crime. Judge George W. Draper III wrote, “This impairment did not prevent Collings from deliberating with respect to the planning, execution and cover up of Rowan’s rape and murder.”
Collings’ defense was attempting to get the courts to lessen the charge of the death penalty to life in prison. Draper wrote, “Collings’ death sentence is consistent with the punishment imposed in other cases in which the defendant abducted a young victim and then sexually abused and murdered the victim.”
Ford’s step-father, David Spears, pled guilty to lesser charges of endangering the welfare of a child and hindering the prosecution as no evidence tied him to the crime. Spears left the girl home alone in Stella where Collings abducted her and then took her to his home near Wheaton and raped and murdered her before dumping her body in the Fox Cave sinkhole.
Draper also wrote, “Collings only accepted full responsibility for the murder after he disposed of Rowan’s body, destroyed incriminating evidence, and spent a week lying and misdirecting law enforcement’s efforts to locate Rowan.”
Collings was originally convicted of the crime in 2012, but his defence filed appeals earlier this year after claiming that the court confused jurors and the verdict and sentencing was manipulated by emotional arguments.
Charlea Mills
Christopher Collings, convicted of the murder and rape 9 year-old Rowan Ford in 2007, will still receive the death penalty for the crime after the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the ruling after Colling’s attorney filed an appeal.
Collings admitted to Wheaton Police Chief Clint Clark on video that he had abducted, raped and murdered the girl. His attorney claimed that the video was a violation of his rights and that Collings’ judgment was impaired because of marijuana use before the crime. Judge George W. Draper III wrote, “This impairment did not prevent Collings from deliberating with respect to the planning, execution and cover up of Rowan’s rape and murder.”
Collings’ defense was attempting to get the courts to lessen the charge of the death penalty to life in prison. Draper wrote, “Collings’ death sentence is consistent with the punishment imposed in other cases in which the defendant abducted a young victim and then sexually abused and murdered the victim.”
Ford’s step-father, David Spears, pled guilty to lesser charges of endangering the welfare of a child and hindering the prosecution as no evidence tied him to the crime. Spears left the girl home alone in Stella where Collings abducted her and then took her to his home near Wheaton and raped and murdered her before dumping her body in the Fox Cave sinkhole.
Draper also wrote, “Collings only accepted full responsibility for the murder after he disposed of Rowan’s body, destroyed incriminating evidence, and spent a week lying and misdirecting law enforcement’s efforts to locate Rowan.”
Collings was originally convicted of the crime in 2012, but his defence filed appeals earlier this year after claiming that the court confused jurors and the verdict and sentencing was manipulated by emotional arguments.
