TIMOTHY R. BROWN
Associated Press
December 10, 2002

JACKSON, Miss. -- Ron Chris Foster, convicted at age 17 in the death of a Lowndes County convenience store clerk, is scheduled for execution on Jan. 8.

The Mississippi Supreme Court set the date Tuesday, one day before the planned execution of Jessie D. Williams.

Williams, who was convicted in 1983 of slashing the throat of 18-year-old Karon Ann Pierce, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday at the Mississippi State Penitentiary.

Foster was convicted of killing George Shelton, a worker at Hankins Superette in Lowndes County, on June 10, 1989. Shelton's body was found behind the counter by a customer who contacted authorities. He had been shot in the head.

Foster has claimed in his appeals that it is cruel and unusual punishment to execute those who committed crimes when they were under the age 18. Foster petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution using that argument.

Last week, the petition was denied.

Foster's attorney, Silas McCharen, said the U.S. Supreme Court is deciding whether to take up another case questioning the constitutionality of executing juvenile offenders, so a date should not have been set for Foster death until that case is resolved.

Marvin White, an assistant attorney general in Mississippi, said there are plenty of cases that question executing juvenile offenders, so there is no reason to hold up Foster's execution because of one more.

"I'm sure that question is going to be raised by many people over the next year, but precedent was established by the ... (U.S.) Supreme Court in 1989 and was reaffirmed just at the beginning of this term," White said.

"So until they take the case up again and change the precedent, that is the precedent of the United States and the law," he said.

State law requires the Mississippi Supreme Court to set an execution date not more than 30 days from a federal court's denial.

Justice Jim Smith signed the state high court order, which states "that no legal impediment exists to deter the resetting of an execution date."

McCharen said Foster had the mental maturity of a 13-year-old when he was convicted of the crime. He said Foster rode his bike to the store and had no weapon. The clerk was shot with a gun that was kept at the store, McCharen said.

The attorney said the court should either bar executions of people under 18 or require lower courts to first consider defendants' maturity and culpability before allowing the death penalty.

McCharen couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.

States may impose the death penalty on killers who were 16 or 17 at the time of their crimes. Of the 38 states that allow the death penalty, 16 prohibit it for those under 18.

White said that while he didn't expect additional delays in Foster's execution, "we just have to wait and see."