Missouri preparing for execution of Ernest Johnson

By JIM SALTER
Associated Press

Last-minute court intervention on Tuesday was the last obstacle to the execution of Ernest Johnson, a Missouri man convicted of killing three convenience store workers during a closing-time robbery nearly 28 years ago. Johnson was scheduled to die by injection Tuesday evening at the state prison in Bonne Terre. It would be just the seventh U.S. execution this year. Johnson’s attorney, Jeremy Weis, says executing Johnson would violate the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits executing intellectually disabled people. Johnson’s attorneys on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of execution, writing: “This is not a close case – Mr. Johnson is intellectually disabled.”