Missouri Supreme Court Declines To Halt Johnson Execution

CBS St. Louis

August 31, 2021

The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to halt the October execution of a man convicted of a triple killing who claimed his intellectual disability made him ineligible for the death penalty.

Ernest Lee Johnson, 61, is scheduled to die by injection Oct. 5 at the state prison in Bonne Terre. It would be the first execution in Missouri since convicted killer Walter Barton was put to death in May 2020.

Johnson's attorney, Kansas City public defender Jeremy Weis, said he is still weighing options about what to do next. Weis said Johnson “meets all statutory and clinical definitions” of intellectual disability and has an IQ that in various tests has ranged from 67 to 77. The Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits executing intellectually disabled people.

CBS Local Digital Media personalizes the global reach of CBS-owned and operated television and radio stations with a local perspective.