Kansas City News Blog

Dennis Skillicorn, courtesy of Paula Skillicorn

When Dennis Skillicorn was picked up by California Highway Patrol and turned over to the FBI, he was pretty fried. On the run, he'd spent weeks with little food, even less sleep, and God knows how much meth. Meth, he explained to me during our prison interview at Potosi, can turn reality into a paranoid, shape-shifting nightmare.

"It will literally have you shooting the neighbor's cat because you think he might have a radio transmitter in his collar or something ridiculous," Skillicorn told me. "When you first start using it, it gives you that sense of euphoria, just like cocaine. But I done a lot of cocaine, and on cocaine, the next day, you may feel like crap, but you're somewhat back to normal. This has long-term effects on your psychosis."

So when Skillicorn gave a statement about his life on the run to the FBI, he mentioned something that, he says now, was the product of a meth-induced fantasy.

The FBI's report on Skillicorn's statement, dated October 6, 1994, says that while Skillicorn and Allen Nicklasson were in Tecate, Mexico, they stopped at a roadside diner. "It was very dusty," it reads. "NICKLASSON and SKILLICORN decided to rob the diner and NICKLASSON said, 'You do this one.' SKILLICORN said, 'No problem.' They were not sure if it was a restaurant, so they took the time to see of anyone else was in the establishment [sic]. NICKLASSON sat at a chair by a table. SKILLICORN pulled out a pistol, cocked it and pointed it at a Mexican woman standing by a counter. The woman continually asked, 'Huevos and ham?' SKILLICORN again yelled at her to give him pesos, but she simply asked, 'Huevos and ham?' NICKLASSON stood up and shot the woman dead. SKILLICORN and NICKLASSON argued with each other. SKILLICORN stated NICKLASSON used the same .22 caliber nickel plated gun. SKILLICORN had the .38 caliber 'snubby'. Both guns had sentimental value to SKILLICORN and NICKLASSON."

Nicklasson's statement, taken earlier when he was caught in California, had no mention of the murder in Mexico. The two mens' stories matched up in every other way, says Skillicorn's lawyer, Jennifer Merrigan.

The FBI investigated the Mexico murder, scouring the areas where the outlaws had been, but found no diner, no body and no reports of missing women. They concluded that there had been no murder in Mexico.

Though Skillicorn was only on trial in Missouri for Drummond's murder, the judge allowed prosecutor Page Bellamy to treat the murders of Drummond, the couple in Arizona and this phantom Mexico murder as pieces of one long, single event. Later, access to Bellamy's files in appeals revealed a note from the FBI stating that no evidence of the Mexico murder had ever been found.

Merrigan submitted a motion to the Missouri Supreme Court, arguing that Skillicorn's execution should be stayed because the state supressed evidence -- Bellamy knew the Mexico murder never happened, yet he used the weight of that phantom crime to convince the jury to find Skillicorn guilty and sentence him to death. These issues were raised in appeals but rejected. Merrigan's motion argued that the issues should be revisited in light of a new Supreme Court decision in Cone vs. Bell, decided April 28.

Like Skillicorn, Tennessee death row inmate Gary Cone was convicted of murders committed while he was high on amphetamines.  But unlike Skillicorn, Cone was more than a mere accomplice. In the midst of an armed robbery, Cone shot a police officer and a bystander, attempted an armed carjacking, fired at a police helicopter, tried to force his way into a woman's apartment and bludgeoned an elderly couple to death when they wouldn't hide him from police. Nonetheless, he got a new trial based on evidence withheld by the prosecution.

Merrigan argued, "The Court must stay the execution of (Skillicorn's) sentence in order to fully and fairly consider Mr. Skillicorn's claims."

Missouri's Supreme Court overruled Merrigan's argument May 5. Skillicorn still stands to be executed on May 20.