Missouri executes a prisoner for killing three people in a robbery 27 years ago

The State of Missouri (United States) executed Ernest Johnson on Tuesday, a man who was sentenced to death for assassinating three workers from a supermarket du

Missouri executes a prisoner for killing three people in a robbery 27 years ago

The State of Missouri (United States) executed Ernest Johnson on Tuesday, a man who was sentenced to death for assassinating three workers from a supermarket during a robbery in 1994.

Johnson, a 61-year-old African-American, was declared dead at 18.11 local time (23.11 GMT) after receiving a lethal injection at the Bonne Terre penitentiary, south of San Luis, according to Missouri correctional department.

In a written statement before being executed, Johnson said he felt "remorse" by his actions, for whom he asked for forgiveness.

The defense of the REO orchestrated in recent weeks a campaign with the aim of suspending the execution with petitions of outstanding personalities, including Pope Francis.

In addition, his lawyers argued before the Supreme Court that Johnson had an intellectual disability and that his execution was therefore unconstitutional. The Supreme, however, rejected these arguments without any magistrate, not even the progressives, opposed.

Johnson was sentenced to death for murdering Fred Jones, 58, Mary Bratcher (46) and Mabel Scrucher (57) during a robbery in the Columbia supermarket (Missouri) in which they worked and from which today Executed was a regular customer. Johnson shot them with a revolver and topped with a hammer and a screwdriver.

When the authorities were alerted at dawn, they found two of the workers killed in a bathroom and the other in a freezer. During a post register of Johnson's home, they found shoes with blood remains that coincided with the traces at the crime scene and cash from the cash register.

In a confession years later, Johnson said he acted under the effects of crack and who murdered workers because they refused to give him the keys of the safe. He also said that the stolen money was to buy drugs.

Before receiving lethal injection, Johnson served him a last meal at his choice consisting of two double burgers with cheese and bacon, onion rings, a pizza and two strawberry shakes.

Johnson's was the first execution in Missouri so far this year and seventh throughout the country. Since the Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, 1,536 people have been executed in the United States, 91 of them in Missouri.

Date Of Update: 08 October 2021, 17:51