JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A lawsuit against Missouri over lethal injection policies for executions has been dismissed.

Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce on Monday dropped the case.

A group of Missouri taxpayers and former lawmakers had claimed the state illegally obtains the drug pentobarbital that is used to put inmates to death. They also said the state receives the drug through an illegal prescription.

Lawyers for the Missouri attorney general’s office had asked the judge to dismiss the case because it wrongly sought to privately enforce federal food and drug laws.

The state also argued the lawsuit was an attempt to block David Zink’s execution. He’s set to be put to death Tuesday.

Attorney Justin Gelfand, an attorney for the taxpayers, says they are considering appealing Joyce’s ruling.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri inmate who abducted and killed a 19-year-old woman in 2001 is asking state and federal appeals courts to spare him from execution.

Attorneys for 55-year-old David Zink has appeals pending Monday with the Missouri Supreme Court, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. A clemency request also is with Gov. Jay Nixon.

Zink is scheduled to face lethal injection Tuesday.

He was sentenced to death in 2004 after being convicted in the death of Amanda Morton, of Strafford. Investigators say he tied her to a cemetery tree and snapped her neck before slicing her spinal cord to make sure she would not survive.

Zink served as his own attorney at trial, but was assisted by a public defender during the trial’s punishment phase.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a Missouri man was beaten and robbed near the Iowa State Capitol after leaving a popular annual music festival.

The Des Moines Register reports that the attack happened around 11:30 p.m. Friday as the Lee’s Summit, Mo., man left the 80/35 music festival.

The man told police he was in Des Moines for work and went to the festival on Friday night. He says he met some females at one of the concerts who claimed to know about an after-party they should all attend.

Police say the group met with three men after the concert. The females left the group, and the man says he was then attacked. He says his assailants took roughly $1,000 from his pockets and his phone.

ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) – A Webster Groves man accused of using chloroform to knock out his ex-girlfriend, tie her up and sexually assault her has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports 36-year-old Italo Rodolfo Pacheco Teran was sentenced Friday. He was convicted of charges that included false imprisonment, rape and child abuse.

According to authorities, Teran went into his ex-girlfriend’s home in September while the 43-year-old woman and her two children were asleep. Police say the woman convinced Teran to free her so she could drink a glass of water, and she found her 9-year-old daughter incoherent in the bathroom and bound with duct tape. Her 1-year-old son, who is Teran’s biological child, was asleep in his crib.

The victim called 911 and fled with her daughter.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Little Pluto is a little bigger than anyone imagined.

On the eve of NASA’s historic flyby of Pluto, scientists announced Monday the New Horizons spacecraft has nailed the size of the faraway icy world. Measurements by the spacecraft set to sweep past Pluto on Tuesday indicate the radius of the dwarf planet spans 736 miles, plus or minus six miles. That’s 20 miles to 30 miles bigger than previous estimates. The diameter would be twice that.

Principal scientist Alan Stern says this means Pluto has a lower density than thought, which could mean an icier interior.

New Horizons’ 3 billion-mile, 9½-year journey culminates Tuesday morning when the spacecraft zooms within 7,767 miles of Pluto. Managers say there’s only one chance in 10,000 something could go wrong, like a debris strike.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man has been injured after Wichita police say another man struck him with a lock inside of a sock.

The Wichita Eagle reports officers responded early Saturday to a report of a 41-year-old man being beaten by a 36-year-old man. According to Sgt. Brian Sigman, the victim suffered “extreme, multiple facial injuries.”

A suspect in the incident has not been arrested.

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder has announced his candidacy for governor near the scene of last year’s protests in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson.

Kinder told the Associated Press in advance of the announcement that he wanted to offer the people of Missouri a “new covenant.”

He highlighted the vandalism that occurred after it was announced that a white officer wouldn’t face indictment in the August shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed.

Kinder said that “state government failed all these people, failed us all in Missouri.”

Republicans appear headed for a crowded gubernatorial primary. Three other candidates already are in the race and more are expected to join.

Kinder has served as lieutenant governor since 2005. The 61-year-old is from Cape Girardeau.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Former Navy officer Eric Greitens says he has amassed more than $1.1 million as he prepares for a potential run for Missouri governor.

Greitens says his exploratory committee received nearly $792,000 in contributions during the past three months. He spent about $113,000 and had more than $1.1 million in his account when combined with previous contributions.

 

Greitens is a Republican and former Navy SEAL from St. Louis who founded The Mission Continues, a nonprofit group that helps veterans returning home from duty.

Republicans may have a crowded primary in 2016. Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder was announcing his gubernatorial candidacy Sunday, becoming the fourth declared GOP candidate. (more here)

Attorney General Chris Koster is the only Democrat in the race.

Democratic Governor Jay Nixon cannot seek re-election because of term limits.

FARMINGTON, Mo. (AP) — A former eastern Missouri firefighter accused with two of his colleagues in a 2013 string of arson fires has been sentenced to five years of probation.

The Park Hills Daily Journal reports that 22-year-old David Radford of Park Hills has pleaded guilty in St. Francois County to a charge of attempted arson.

He also must complete 240 hours of community service at the courthouse.

Investigators say Radford tried to set fire to a Park Hills house, and that he also waited in a car while another firefighter set another fire.

A co-defendant, Brad Easter, was sentenced last November to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to arson and weapons counts.

The third firefighter, Dale Hamor, has pleaded guilty to two arson counts and awaits sentencing July 24th.