Missouri Executes Death Row Prisoner Despite Pleas From Pope and Others

The New York Times, October 4, 2021: Missouri Executes Death Row Prisoner Despite Pleas From Pope and Others

“A Missouri man convicted of beating three people to death during a 1994 convenience store robbery was executed on Tuesday night despite calls for clemency from Pope Francis and other supporters who said the man’s intellectual disabilities made the execution unconstitutional.

Ernest Lee Johnson, who was on death row at a state prison in Bonne Terre, Mo., was executed by lethal injection at 6:11 p.m. local time on Tuesday, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections.

In his last statement, which was released by the department, Mr. Johnson said he was sorry and had remorse for what he did.

‘I want to say that I love my family and friends,’ he wrote, adding that he was thankful for his lawyer. ‘For all the people that has prayed for me I thank them.’”

Additional reading:

ACLU: The Case Against the Death Penalty

Urban Institute, April 28, 2021: Abolishing the Death Penalty Is Critical, But Is Not Enough to Address Its Racist and Classist Harms

The New York Times, August 2, 2019: Pope Francis Declares Death Penalty Unacceptable in All Cases