Zink was on parole for raping another girl.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A Missouri inmate is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, after he ruthlessly abducted, raped, and murdered a 19-year-old girl in 2001.
After losing an eleventh hour appeal, David Zink, 55, is scheduled to die by lethal injection after 6 p.m. CDT (2300 GMT) for the murder of Amanda Morton of Strafford, Mo., according to Reuters.Follow @ambazaarmag
Zink was convicted of murdering Amanda Morton, 19, after he crashed into her vehicle in St. Louis. He had just been released from a 20-year prison sentence for raping and abducting another girl, according to The Inquisitr, and was scared the accident would be seen as a violation of parole.
He, therefore, decided to eliminate Morton instead of facing jail time for the collision. Zink reportedly took Morton to a hotel room where he raped her before binding her to a tree in a cemetery.
He then concluded the grisly affair by snapping her neck and slicing her spinal cord. Police noted Zink laughed when he related how he ultimately ended Morton’s life, reported the Daily Mail.
Zink served as his own attorney during his trial but was assisted by a public defender during the trial’s punishment phase, reported local news outlet KY3. “The trial often took bizarre twists, as well as stops and starts, as Zink questioned witnesses and made statements from the defense table,” the station disclosed.
Zink is also named plaintiff in a lawsuit brought by a group of death row inmates in Missouri against state officials alleging its lethal-injection protocol is unconstitutional and creates a substantial risk of severe pain.
The allegations are part of an ongoing debate about the use of compounded drugs in U.S. executions amid a shortage of traditionally used pharmaceuticals, revealed Reuters.
Morton’s parents still live in Strafford. Her mother attended the trial in 2004 and said afterwards that she was happy with its outcome, according to KY3.