Black Imprisoned Man in Missouri Executed Despite Calls for Clemency From Rep. Cori Bush and Pope Francis; Man Had Intellectual Disability

A Black man imprisoned in Missouri has been executed despite calls against it from Pope Francis and others.

On Wednesday, 61-year-old Ernest Johnson was put to death by pentobarbital injection at 6:11 p.m. He was serving time in prison at a Missouri state prison called Bonne Terre. Pope Francis and some politicians were calling for Johnson to be granted clemency, saying the man suffers from an intellectual disability.

CBS News reports Johnson was born with fetal alcohol syndrome and had one-fifth of his brain tissue taken out when a tumor was removed in 2008.

“There is a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the lethal injection drugs will trigger violent and uncontrollable seizures that are extremely painful and will lead to an ineffective and excruciating execution. Mr. Johnson’s seizure threshold is substantially lower than the general population,” Johnson’s attorney said in a statement.

Johnson’s death sentence comes after he was accused of murdering three workers at a Casey’s General Store in Columbia, Missouri, back on February 12, 1994. At the time, Johnson was allegedly robbing the store to pay for drugs.

On Monday, Missouri Governor Mike Parson blocked Johnson from receiving clemency, saying the state was “prepared to deliver justice and carry out the lawful sentence.”

U.S. Representatives Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver asked Parson previously to grant Johnson Clemency, noting the death penalty’s racist history.

“Like slavery and lynching did before it, the death penalty perpetuates cycles of trauma, violence and state-sanctioned murder in Black and brown communities,” a joint letter from the politicians to Parson read. “We urge you to correct these injustices using every tool available, including the power to grant clemency.”