MISSOURI:
INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY CLAIM AS EXECUTION SET
Ernest Johnson, aged 55, is due to be executed in Missouri on 3 November. He
was convicted of three murders committed during a robbery in 1994. There is
evidence that he has intellectual disability, which would render his execution
unconstitutional.
Click here to view the full Urgent Action in Word or PDF format, including case
information, addresses and sample messages.
In the early hours of 13 February 1994, a police officer found the bodies of
Mary Bratcher, age 46; Fred Jones, age 58, and Mabel Scruggs, age 57, in a
convenience store in Columbia, Missouri, where the three worked. Each had died
of head injuries. Ernest Lee Johnson, a regular customer in the shop, was
arrested and charged with the murders. He was brought to trial in May 1995,
convicted and sentenced to death.
In 1998, the Missouri Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing due to the
lawyer’s failure to present the testimony of a psychiatrist who had examined
Ernest Johnson. The Court said it was “left with the definite and firm
impression” that his testimony “would have altered the jurors' deliberations”
and
may have resulted in a vote for life imprisonment.
At his resentencing in 1999, Ernest Johnson was again condemned to death. In
2002, the US Supreme Court ruled that the execution of people with
intellectual disability (previously referred to as “mental retardation”) was
unconstitutional. In 2003, the Missouri Supreme Court again ordered a new
sentencing, this time because evidence of Ernest Johnson’s intellectual
disability had not been adequately presented. He has had several IQ assessments
during his life, including one of 77 at the age of eight, and one of 63 when he
was 12 years old. He struggled in school and was placed in special
education classes. He has also been diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome,
which is associated with impaired intellectual functioning, and suffered two
serious head injuries as a child.
In 2006, Ernest Johnson was sentenced to death for a third time after the jury
found that he had not proved that he had intellectual disability. The
defence had argued that the burden should have been on the state to prove that
he did not have intellectual disability. The defence presented two experts
who testified that he did have intellectual disability, with one assessing his
IQ at 67 and both finding that he had adaptive skill deficits in a number
of areas, and that the disability had manifested before the age of 18. A
psychometrist working for the state’s expert also assessed his IQ at 67, but
the
state expert asserted that Ernest Johnson was malingering. The main defence
expert disagreed, having tested for malingering. The prosecutor argued to the
jury that “to decide it’s more likely true than not that this guy is mentally
retarded is an insult, an insult to these victims.” The state Supreme Court
upheld the death sentence in 2008, ruling that “deference should be given to
the jury” but three of the seven judges dissented arguing that “allocating
the burden to the defendant to prove that he is mentally retarded makes the
decision – whether Johnson should receive the death penalty – seem
capricious” and that the conflicting facts in this case “show that the result –
life or death – may well depend on which party has the burden of proof.”
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The US Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia on 20 June 2002 that the
execution of people with intellectual disability contravened a national
consensus and was unconstitutional. Among other things, the Court pointed to
the “consistency of the direction of change” of state-level legislation on
this issue, and pointed out that in 2000 and 2001 alone, six states, including
Missouri, had “joined the procession” by enacting bills against such use
of the death penalty. The Atkins ruling pointed to clinical definitions of
“mental retardation” as a disability, manifested before the age of 18,
characterized by significantly sub-average intellectual functioning, and with
limitations in two or more adaptive skill areas. It left it to states to
develop “appropriate ways to enforce the constitutional restriction”, resulting
in a degree of inconsistent application across the country.
Click here to view the full Urgent Action in Word or PDF format.
Name: Ernest Lee Johnson
Gender m/f: m
UA: 242/15 Index: AMR 51/2735/2015 Issue Date: 23 October 2015
Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact!
EITHER send a short email to u...@aiusa.org with “UA 242/15” in the subject
line, and include in the body of the email the number of letters and/or emails
you sent,
OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action.
Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office
if taking action after the appeals date. If you receive a response from a
government official, please forward it to us at u...@aiusa.org or to the Urgent
Action Office address below.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Please write immediately in English or your own language:
* Calling for Ernest Johnson's execution to be stopped and for his death
sentence to be commuted;
* Noting evidence that he has intellectual disability, which would render his
execution unconstitutional;
* Explaining that you are not seeking to downplay the seriousness of the
crime or the suffering caused.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 3 NOVEMBER 2015 TO:
Office of Governor Jay Nixon
P.O. Box 720, Jefferson City, MO 65102, USA Fax: +1 573 751 1495
Email: via website http://governor.mo.gov/contact/ Salutation: Dear Governor
Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact! EITHER
send a short email to u...@aiusa.org with “UA 242/15” in the subject line,
and include in the body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you
sent, OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action.
Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office
if taking action after the appeals date.
Please share widely with your networks: http://bit.ly/1MaQzlQ
We encourage you to share Urgent Actions with your friends and colleagues! When
you share with your networks, instead of forwarding the original email,
please use the "Forward this email to a friend" link found at the very bottom
of this email. Thank you for your activism!
UA Network Office AIUSA │600 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington DC 20003
T. 202.509.8193 │ F. 202.509.8193 │E. u...@aiusa.org │amnestyusa.org/urgent
_______________________________________________
A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
