Arkansas' castrated rapist Wayne DuMond found dead in Mo. prison

kansascity.com ^ | 8/31/05

[Borges]

FORREST CITY, Ark. - Castrated rapist Wayne DuMond, paroled from an Arkansas prison and later convicted of murder in Missouri, was found dead in his prison cell Wednesday, a day after losing an appeal in the Missouri Supreme Court.

Missouri prison officials said DuMond had been diagnosed two months ago with cancer of the vocal cords and that his death appears to have been natural.

DuMond, 55, was castrated while awaiting trial for the 1984 rape of Ashley Stephens of Forrest City. He was initially sentenced to life in prison. But in 1992 then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker commuted the sentence to 39 1/2 years, making DuMond eligible for parole.

After his release in 1999, DuMond moved to the Kansas City, Mo., suburb of Smithville and was later convicted of killing a woman in her apartment. Tuesday, DuMond lost an appeal in that case.

Shortly after taking office in 1996, Gov. Mike Huckabee said he intended to reduce DuMond's sentence to time served - about 11 years at the time. The governor ended up rejecting DuMond's parole request, which would have freed DuMond without conditions. He signed the decision moments after the Arkansas parole board granted DuMond a parole on condition that another state take him.

DuMond was pronounced dead at 7:03 a.m. by medical staff of a prison infirmary at Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron, Mo., said Wanda Seeney, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Prison guards found DuMond unresponsive during a routine inmate count earlier that morning and tried to revive him before taking him to the infirmary, she said. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death. Two months ago, DuMond was diagnosed with cancer of the vocal chords, she said.

"He was being treated for cancer, but it was still a shock because his cancer had not progressed to where they were expecting him to die at any moment," she said.

DuMond's case became notorious in Arkansas when he claimed he was castrated while awaiting trial for a 1984 rape at Forrest City, Ark. No one was ever charged in the assault. Stephens is a distant relative of former President Bill Clinton, who was governor of Arkansas at the time of the rape.

DuMond moved to Missouri after being paroled from Arkansas and shortly afterward was arrested for the Sept. 20, 2000, murder of Carol Sue Shields of Parkville. He was convicted and sentenced to life without parole.

Prosecutor Dan White in Clay County, Mo., said the Appeals Court for the Western District of Missouri upheld Dumond's appeal Tuesday of his first-degree murder conviction.

White said Dumond was also the lead suspect in a murder in Platt County, Mo., but had never been charged in that case.

White added: "I think the world's a better place without Wayne DuMond in it, and I wouldn't want to be him right now."

[RockinRight]

This castration thingy was small town justice that is all. Huckelbee screwed up big time. This will haunt him if he runs for President.

Bump for current relevance.