Murderer Ernest Lee Johnson to be EXECUTED in Missouri today marking 4th death row killing since Biden took office
MURDERER Ernest Lee Johnson is set to be executed in a Missouri prison today, marking the fourth death row killing since Joe Biden took office.
Johnson, 61, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Tuesday at 6pm at the state prison in Bonne Terre in Missouri.
Johnson was sentenced to death after being convicted of killing three people during a robbery in 1994 at a convenience store in Columbia.
“Mr. Johnson was tried and convicted for the brutal murder of three innocent victims during a robbery in 1994,” Missouri Governor Mike Parson said in a statement.
“The evidence showed Mr. Johnson went to great lengths to plan and conceal his crime. Three juries have reviewed Mr. Johnson’s case and recommended a sentence of death.”
In February 1994, Johnson walked into a general store near his home in northeast Columbia and bludgeoned, stabbed, and shot three employees.
The victims were identified as Mary Bratcher, 46; Mable Scruggs, 57; and Fred Jones, 58.
Johnson proceeded to hide their bodies in a walk-in cooler and rob the store for drug money.
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The state of Missouri will continue with Johnson’s execution despite calls from anti-death penalty activists to halt it.
Pope Francis joined the fight in halting Johnson’s execution, sending a letter to Governor Parson requesting clemency for the convicted killer.
In the letter, Pope Francis did not deny that “grave crimes such as his deserve grave punishment” but called on Parson to consider “the simple fact of Mr Johnson’s humanity and the sacredness of all human life.”
Johnson was born with fetal alcohol syndrome and lost about 20 percent of his brain tissue during a 2008 surgery to remove a benign tumor.
According to Johnson’s attorney, Jeremy Weis, testing and IQ indicated he has the intellectual capacity of a child.
On Friday, Missouri Democratic Reps Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver called for the execution to be halted, writing in a letter to the Governor, “Mr. Johnson’s execution would be a grave act of injustice.”
Despite the Biden administration’s order to halt federal executions, the president has remained silent on the issue.
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