Missouri gets back in the killing business tonight.

The state does this reluctantly. Spare us the political cynicism. I refuse to believe an officeholder with influence in the realm of executions panders to the public’s support of the death penalty.

And the public favors putting murderers to death. The Pew Research Center and the Gallup organization conducted surveys that show popular approval of the death penalty hit a high of 80 percent in 1994.

More recent numbers show support at 62 percent, a significant decline, but among folks who identified their political leanings, only those declaring themselves liberal Democrats opposed capital punishment. That opposition, though, barely cleared 50 percent.

That’s right, even a good number of liberals believe in an eye-for-an-eye philosophy.

It’s no wonder then that Missouri will conduct, as the calendar turns to Wednesday, its first execution since 2005.

Killed will be Dennis Skillicorn, a 49-year-old whose last breath will come at the Potosi Correctional Facility in eastern Missouri.

Missouri’s Supreme Court turned down the latest appeal to delay the execution. A lower court sentenced him to die 13 years ago.

Only Gov. Jay Nixon can stop the execution now. That seems unlikely.

The inmate proves a tough guy for whom to build a case for clemency. He served time for killing an 81-year-old man, got an early release from prison and took part in another murder.

A human being named Richard Drummond stopped to help him on a highway. A Good Samaritan. For this act of kindness, Mr. Drummond died, dumped in the woods with two bullets through his head.

The Skillicorn execution stems from that offense, though “offense” soft-sells the senselessness of the crime. Mr. Drummond’s family did not learn his fate for eight days. His children grew up without their father.

Stuck behind bars, killers convert with regularity. Incarceration provides time to find just the right words.

But this case provides a twist. The inmate put his words into action. He edited a magazine called Compassion, whose prisoner-written articles focus on healing for victims. He involved himself in a prison hospice, extending dignity to the deaths of imperfect souls. He helped raise money for scholarships that went to the family members of murder victims.

Does the good done in a latter-day life offset the evil done earlier?

Are laws established to create a better society or exact punishment?

Those questions will be answered after midnight.

In the evening hours, vigils and prayer services will be held in connection with the execution. In St. Joseph, an event begins at St. Francis Xavier Church at 6 p.m. In Savannah, a vigil starts at 7 p.m. at St. Francis Chapel in the LaVerna Heights Building.

Prayers will be said for the soon-to-die convict and for the souls of murder victims.

There is another view. In response to one Skillicorn story, an online posting contained these words: “End it, put him down like a dog if it had bitten you more then once.”

Since 1994, there have been about 5,900 murders in Missouri. Most of those years, the state conducted executions.

Call it vengeance, or call it justice. In a majority-rules nation, the state resumes its killing concern.

Ken Newton’s column runs on Tuesday and Sunday.