Thousands call for clemency ahead of a Columbia mans execution
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
State leaders and concerned citizens have called on Governor Mike Parson at one last attempt to halt Ernest Lee Johnson's execution.
Johnson was convicted in 1995 for killing three people while robbing a Columbia convenience store in 1994. His execution date is set for Tuesday, 27 years after committing his crimes.
His execution was granted a stay in 2015 because of brain tumor, but now Johnson is set to be the first man executed in Missouri since May 2020.
Johnson is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the state prison in Bonne Terre.
Nimrod Chapel, Missouri NAACP President, two members of Missouri Congress Reps. Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver II, and The Pope are petitioning to halt the execution. In total, over 23,000 people have signed a petition asking for clemency for Johnson.
"We are asking that the Governor to grant him clemency and finish out his life in prison," Chapel said.
Elyse Max, State Director for Missourian's Alternative to the Death Penalty, said Johnson's execution is both immoral and illegal.
"It is not only immoral to execute Ernest Johnson it is also illegal because Johnson has an intellectual and developmental disability," Max said.
In 2002, the Supreme Court made it illegal to execute someone with an intellectual disability, but it is left up to each state to decide how it defines an intellectual disability.
The application for clemency, sent to Governor Parson states Johnson meets the clinical and statutory definition for an intellectual disability.
Max said the advocates fighting for Johnson's life are not asking for him to be a free man.
"Our ask is for commutation to life without parole, so we're not saying he's not culpable for the murders that took place in 1994, we are very sad for those losses and we understand how it impacted the community Columbia and the state very gravely," Max said.
