Judge denies Missouri prosecutor request to halt execution

By JIM SALTER
Associated Press

O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man who killed a police officer still faces execution later this month after a judge denied a special prosecutor’s request to halt the death sentence. Kevin Johnson is scheduled to die by injection on Nov. 29. Johnson killed Kirkwood, Missouri, Police Officer William McEntee in 2005. Last month, St. Louis Circuit Judge Mary Elizabeth Ott appointed a special prosecutor to review the case. The special prosecutor, E.E. Keenan, filed a motion Tuesday night to vacate the death sentence, stating that race played a “decisive factor” in the death sentence. Johnson is Black and the slain officer was white. But in a ruling Wednesday, Ott denied the request.