Topline Missouri officials executed a man convicted of murder Tuesday, after the Supreme Court rejected his lawyers’ last-minute request to call off the execution due to his intellectual disabilities, ending a controversial case that’s drawn attention from politicians and the pope. This photo provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections shows Ernest Johnson. ASSOCIATED PRESS Key Facts Ernest Johnson was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. local time Tuesday evening, after he was put to death in a Missouri state prison using the lethal injection drug pentobarbital, Missouri Department of Corrections spokesperson Karen Pojmann told Forbes. The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request from Johnson’s attorneys to pause the execution earlier Tuesday, and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson rejected a bid for clemency on Monday, writing that the state is “prepared to deliver justice.” Johnson’s lawyers told the high court their client suffered from intellectual disabilities for decades, meaning his execution could violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, per the court’s 2002 Atkins v. Virginia decision. Laurence Komp, one of Johnson’s attorneys, told Forbes he’s “disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s decision and “profoundly saddened” by the execution. Key Background Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder for using a hammer to kill three convenience store workers during a botched 1994 robbery. His case has lingered for decades, largely due to concerns about his mental fitness…. Click below to read the full story from Forbes
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Missouri Executes Man After Supreme Court Declines To Intervene Over Question Of Intellectual Disabilities
