ST. LOUIS — A Missouri inmate who is due to be executed next month has been hospitalized because of a ''medical emergency,'' a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Corrections said.
David Hosier, 69, is scheduled to be put to death June 11 for killing a Jefferson City couple, Angela and Rodney Gilpin, in 2009. His attorney, Jeremy Weis, said a prison doctor diagnosed Hosier with heart failure this week. Hosier's sister, Barbara Morrill, said he has atrial fibrillation, which causes an irregular heartbeat.
Morrill said her brother fell ill about a week and ago and has gotten worse, with leg swelling and severe pain. She wondered why it took so long to move him out of his cell.
''He's in a lot of pain,'' she said. ''He can't walk. He can barely talk.''
Karen Pojmann, spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Corrections, said she could not release further information, citing privacy requirements.
Hosier's spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeff Hood, said at a news conference on Friday that Missouri faces the prospect of executing a man who is critically ill.
''His family has been told that he is in acute heart failure,'' Hood said. ''The question becomes: How sick does a person have to be to not be executed in the state of Missouri?''
It wasn't immediately clear if the state would postpone the execution. Hosier has always maintained his innocence, but police and prosecutors say the evidence against him was overwhelming.