State executes Ernest Lee Johnson for Columbia triple murder

Watch a post-performance press conference live in the player below.

COLOMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The state executed Ernest Lee Johnson on Tuesday, 25 years after killing three gas station workers and following a last-ditch effort by his lawyers to save him, The Associated Press reported.

The execution came after the United States Supreme Court issued an order of a sentence on Tuesday afternoon, declaring that “the application for a stay of execution of the death penalty brought to Judge Kavanaugh and by him remitted to the Court is dismissed. The request for a certiorari order is denied. “

Johnson died of an injection of pentobarbital at 6:11 p.m. at Bonne Terre State Prison. He could be seen saying the words “I love you” to members of his family, according to an ABC 17 News reporter who witnessed the execution. Johnson’s breathing became labored as the medication took effect. Then Johnson seemed to fall asleep.

Johnson was due to be executed at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Bonne Terre State Prison. His lawyers, lawyers and death penalty opponents have argued for years that Johnson has an intellectual disability, making his execution unconstitutional. In addition to low IQ scores, Johnson suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and lost brain tissue when a benign tumor was removed 13 years ago.

Johnson’s lawyers reiterated those arguments in a brief filed Monday with the Supreme Court. They say Johnson’s intellectual disability is well established, that the courts that dismissed Johnson’s appeals have misapplied the case law, and that the Missouri jury’s instructions on intellectual disabilities are “flawed.”

“This is not a close affair,” the lawyers say in legal documents. “Ernest Johnson is intellectually disabled. To allow the state of Missouri to execute Mr. Johnson undermines the authority of this Court and the precedent and would be a fundamental miscarriage of justice. “

Johnson was sentenced to death in 1995 after the 1994 murders of Mary Bratcher, Fred Jones and Mable Scruggs, employees of a Casey’s general store. Authorities say Johnson used a hammer and screwdriver in the brutal killings.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Monday the state plans to move forward with plans to execute Johnson by lethal injection.

Demonstrations took place across the state on Tuesday to pressure the state to stop the execution. The Missouri ACLU said the execution is “an endorsement of a racist and vengeful criminal justice system without any concern for judicial integrity.”

Check back for updates to this developing story and watch ABC 17 News at 5 and 6.