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| Missouri Inmate Executed After Brief Reprieve |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 08/26/2002 |
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A man convicted in the 1992 contract killing of a suburban St. Louis woman was executed August 14, ending his 22-hour reprieve granted after an acquaintance claimed she had information that could exonerate him. Daniel Basile, 35, had been scheduled to die on the morning of August 14 before the governor delayed the execution after being notified the alleged witness - an 18-year Basile acquaintance now living in California - had surfaced for the first time. It marked the first time in 13 death penalty cases since Gov. Bob Holden took office that he has intervened. But a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled that 'the alibi witness' story does not constitute `clear and convincing evidence' of actual innocence.' Basile had claimed he was innocent in the 1992 shooting death of Elizabeth DeCaro, 28, of St. Charles. Basile was convicted in a murder-for-hire plot by DeCaro's husband, Richard, who had taken a $100,000 life insurance policy on his wife. Richard DeCaro was acquitted in state court but was later convicted, along with Basile, on federal charges, and is serving a life sentence. Basile said the acquaintance, Julie Ann Montgomery-Lewis, could prove his innocence because she drove him to a parking lot to pick up the DeCaros' vehicle. It had been alleged that Basile killed DeCaro, then drove the vehicle from her home. Basile said he offered the woman's name to his trial attorneys, but they never pursued her. On the day of his execution, Basile said he never called upon Montgomery-Lewis to testify at trial because he thought he would be exonerated. |
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