Missouri Supreme Court sets execution date for man that killed Randolph County jail workers
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Supreme Court of Missouri issued the execution order and warrant Wednesday for a man convicted of murder more than 20 years ago.
Michael Tisius, 41, is found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder by a jury in 2001 and was sentenced to death for killing Randolph County deputies Jason Acton and Leon Egley. His execution date is June 6.
Tisius was charged in 2000 for shooting and killing the two deputies at the Randolph County Jail in June 2000. He previously appealed the judgement, but it was upheld.
Tisius, who was 19 at the time, killed the two in an attempt to break Roy Vance out of the jail. Tisius met Vance in the jail earlier that year. He and Vance's girlfriend, Tracie Bulington, went to the jail the night of June 22, 2000 to give Vance cigarettes. Once inside, Tisius shot the two jail workers but could not get Vance out of his cell. The two fled the jail and were arrested in Kansas later that day.
The Missouri Supreme Court denied Tisius's most recent attempt at reversing his sentence. His attorney, Elizabeth Carlyle, said she anticipated future filings. Carlyle previous argued in federal court that Tisius's lawyers did a poor job at trial presenting evidence that might have convinced a jury to sentence him to life in prison rather than death.
Former Randolph County Sheriff Mark Nichols told ABC 17 News he remembered getting the call while in St. Louis that Acton and Egley had been shot. Acton was a new recruit to the department and was months away from beginning road training. Egley was the jail's administrator and had started the same year as Nichols did in 1986. Nichols said the shooting was a major reason the county went forward on building a new jail.
"Small departments are families," Nichols said. "Basically we lost to family members that morning. So you can imagine the devastation not only for their families, but also for our work family as well."
Bulington pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and received la life sentence.
