The state of Missouri is scheduled to execute John Clayton Smith this week, on Oct. 29.

Smith was convicted in the brutal, 1997 stabbing murders of his ex-girlfriend, Brandie Kearnes and her father, Wayne Hoewing.

He had appealed his conviction and death sentence, and his lawyers and supporters claimed that he both suffered from bi-polar disorder, and that the prosecutor in his case was at one time his defense lawyer, creating a conflict of interest that should have led to another trial. He has since dropped his appeals.