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mike parson
GOP Killing Spree Continues as Missouri Executes Marcellus Williams
"We must abolish this flawed, racist, inhumane practice once and for all," Congresswoman Cori Bush said of the death penalty.
Sep 24, 2024
Update: The state of Missouri executed Marcellus Williams by lethal injection Monday evening over the objections of his prosecutor and the murder victim's relatives, The Associated Pressreported.
Earlier:
Advocates for a man set to be executed by the state of Missouri on Tuesday lodged desperate pleas for Republican Gov. Mike Parson to change course and grant an eleventh-hour reprieve in a case with such serious red flags that even the office that prosecuted the defendant wants his conviction overturned.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay for Williams, one day after both Parson and the Missouri Supreme Court said they would not halt Williams' killing by lethal injection—a method associated with botched executions—barring a last-minute change of heart by the governor.
"We wish we had better news. But as of now, Marcellus Williams is still scheduled to be executed by Missouri tonight at 6:00 pm Central for a crime he is totally innocent of," the Innocence Project—which works to exonerate wrongfully convicted people—said in a social media post.
Williams, who is Black, was convicted in 2001 of murdering Felicia Gayle, a white woman, during a 1998 robbery. DNA found on the knife used to kill Gayle matched another man. However, Williams was convicted by a nearly all-white jury after St. Louis County prosecutors were permitted to preemptively strike half a dozen Black prospective jurors from service.
Earlier this year, St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell, a Democrat running for Congress, asked to vacate Williams' conviction, citing "clear and convincing evidence" of his innocence including evidence contamination and the revelation that at least one potential juror was excluded because he was Black.
However, the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled against stopping the execution, asserting that Williams' lawyers "failed to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence Williams' actual innocence or constitutional error at the original criminal trial that undermines the confidence in the judgment of the original criminal trial."
Following the ruling, Parson said that Williams "has exhausted due process and every judicial avenue, including over 15 hearings attempting to argue his innocence and overturn his conviction."
Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-Mo.)—a death penalty opponent who was recently defeated by Bell in their district's Democratic House primary—joined civil and human rights defenders in appealing to Parson to reconsider.
"A system that rules that an innocent man can be executed by the hands of the state is anything but just," Bush said on social media. "Gov. Parson must reverse his disgraceful decision not to stop this inhumane execution and act now to save Marcellus Williams' life."
As NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund president and director-counsel Janai Nelson noted:
There is a groundswell of voices calling for either commutation or a temporary reprieve. As you know, these voices include the family of Felicia Gayle... Gayle's family had communicated their "desire that the death penalty not be carried out in this case." Mr. Williams has presented compelling evidence that he is innocent of Ms. Gayle's murder. The perpetrator of this horrific crime left behind significant forensic evidence, including fingerprints, footprints, hair, and trace DNA on the murder weapon. None of this evidence matches Mr. Williams. The St. Louis County prosecuting attorney has recognized that Mr. Williams' capital trial was marred by constitutional errors and the prosecution's presentation of unreliable evidence, which undermine confidence in the judgment against him.
"I implore you to use your gubernatorial authority to grant Mr. Williams clemency, or, at a minimum, grant a reprieve until the underlying conviction can be investigated further and applicable law can be determined," Nelson said.
As Amherst College law professor Austin Sarat noted in Slate Monday, the United States is currently "witnessing the worst execution spree in three decades."
Republican-led states are set to carry out four state-sanctioned killings in addition to last week's lethal injection of Freddie Owens in South Carolina, despite the key prosecution witness' bombshell claim that the convicted man did not commit the murder for which he was put to death.
"This week's execution spree should unsettle all Americans, whether or not they support the death penalty," Sarat wrote. "It will offer further reasons for why capital punishment should be abolished everywhere in this country."
As the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) notes on its website, capital punishment "carries the inherent risk of executing an innocent person."
"Since 1973, at least 200 people who had been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the U.S. have been exonerated," the group says, adding that it is "clear that innocent defendants will be convicted and sentenced to death with some regularity as long as the death penalty exists."
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After Missouri Executes Brian Dorsey, Cori Bush Says Abolish Death Penalty
His case, the congresswoman said, "demonstrates the systemic rot of our criminal legal system, which not only fails to prevent violence but actually enables violence itself."
Apr 10, 2024
Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Cori Bush renewed her demand for an end to the death penalty nationwide after her home state of Missouri executed 52-year-old Brian Dorsey on Tuesday evening.
"There is no place in a humane society for state violence. Gov. Mike Parson could have saved Brian Dorsey's life by granting clemency, but he chose to uphold his legacy as the 'Deadly Governor' by denying Mr. Dorsey mercy," Bush said in a statement.
Bush and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) had written to Parson last week urging the Republican to spare Dorsey's life.
Others who recently tried to prevent Dorsey's execution included family members, five of the jurors who sentenced him to death, over 70 current and former correctional officers, and former Missouri Supreme Court Judge Michael Wolff, who previously upheld his sentence.
\u201cI spent 27 years working in corrections .... I believed that the whole purpose of \u2018corrections\u2019 was to rehabilitate people. I knew Brian Dorsey for many years, and I can say without hesitation that he was completely rehabilitated.... Brian\u2019s execution doesn\u2019t make sense to me.\u201d— (@)
The right-wing U.S. Supreme Court also declined to intervene. Dorsey was injected with a single dose of pentobarbital at the state prison in Bonne Terre and pronounced dead at 6:11 pm local time, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections.
"Dorsey took a few deep breaths as the drug was injected, then several shallow, quick breaths," The Associated Pressreported Tuesday. "At one point he raised his head from the pillow and blinked hard. After several seconds, all movement stopped."
Based on advice from private counsel hired by the Missouri State Public Defender to defend him, Dorsey pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for killing his cousin, Sarah Bonnie, and her husband, Benjamin Bonnie, at their home on December 23, 2006.
"Had counsel investigated and completed an expert evaluation of their client, they would have learned that Mr. Dorsey was not guilty of first-degree murder, as he was neurologically incapable of deliberation," a lawyer for Dorsey wrote in a recent legal filing.
Bush—who is among dozens of congressional Democrats who have advocated against capital punishment—expressed alarm that Dorsey was killed "despite serious concerns about his state of mind when he committed the offense and the legal representation he was provided."
His case, she said, "demonstrates the systemic rot of our criminal legal system, which not only fails to prevent violence but actually enables violence itself."
"We are so much more than our worst mistakes, and not a single one of us deserves to die because of them," the congresswoman added. "We must refuse to allow another life to be taken by our government. We must abolish the death penalty."
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US Supreme Court Declines to Halt Execution of Missouri Man With 'Severe Mental Illness'
"There is no place for the death penalty in a humane society," said Rep. Cori Bush, who urged the GOP governor to intervene in Johnny Johnson's case.
Aug 01, 2023
Update (9:58 pm ET):
The state of Missouri killed 45-year-old Johnny Johnson with a lethal injection of pentobarbital at 6:33 pm local time Tuesday after the right-wing majority of the U.S. Supreme Court declined to halt his execution.
Johnson expressed remorse in a handwritten statement released before he was executed. As The Associated Pressreported:
"God Bless. Sorry to the people and family I hurt," Johnson's statement said.
As he lay on his back with a sheet up to his neck, Johnson turned his head to the left, appearing to listen to his spiritual adviser shortly before the injection began. He then faced forward with his eyes closed, with no further physical reaction.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a dissent joined by the Supreme Court's other two liberal members—Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan—that "executing a prisoner who has lost his sanity has, for centuries, been branded inhumane."
"The court today paves the way to execute a man with documented mental illness before any court meaningfully investigates his competency to be executed," she continued. "There is no moral victory in executing someone who believes Satan is killing him to bring about the end of the world. Reasonable jurists have already disagreed on Johnson's entitlement to habeas relief. He deserves a hearing where a court can finally determine whether his execution violates the Eighth Amendment. Instead, this court rushes to finality, bypassing fundamental procedural and substantive protections."
Law Dork's Chris Geidner explained that "the trio dissented from the denial of the stay application, as well as the denial of certiorari. So, they not only are asserting that Johnson shouldn't die tonight; they also think SCOTUS should have taken up his case."
Earlier:
Unless the U.S. Supreme Court steps in on Tuesday, Missouri is set to kill 45-year-old Johnny Johnson by lethal injection at 6:00 pm local time after Republican Gov. Mike Parson declined to halt his execution despite concerns about competency.
Johnson's legal team has submitted three petitions to the nation's highest court. While "the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that a person cannot be executed if they lack an understanding of the reason for their pending execution, Law Dork's Chris Geidner noted Monday, "the six-justice conservative majority has not been receptive to death penalty stay requests."
Along with Johnson's attorneys, U.S. lawmakers, human rights campaigners including Amnesty International, and other opponents of capital punishment have long argued against executing the Missouri man, highlighting his mental health history.
Members of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty gathered at the Missouri State Capitol on Tuesday to protest Johnson's looming execution and delivered a petition with more than 3,000 signatures to the governor's office.
"It is egregious to execute someone who does not understand the reason for their execution," Elyse Max, the group's co-director, told the television station KRCG. "It's not a punishment if they don't associate them being murdered by the state with the crime."
Max added that "he should be kept in a medical institution, that could prevent further atrocities from happening and help Johnny to cope with his schizophrenia, command hallucinations, and other issues that come with his severe mental illness."
As two Missouri Democrats in Congress, Reps. Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver, wrote to Parson on Friday:
Mr. Johnson has suffered from severe mental illness and cognitive impairments his entire life. He has organic brain disorder and experienced a brutally traumatic and adverse childhood that involved psychiatric hospitalizations, and suffers from schizophrenia that consistently features hallucinations, delusions, and psychotic disorganized thought. He was in the grips of active psychosis when he committed the offense for which he is scheduled to be executed. He currently believes that the reason for his execution is that Satan is using the state of Missouri to bring about the end of the world.
Mr. Johnson has a lengthy history of seeking treatment, including through hospitalization, that establishes the long-standing nature of the diseases and inability of medication to adequately treat them. He has received numerous diagnoses, including schizophrenia, major depression, psychotic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Nothing about his life history suggests he is currently malingering or otherwise faking his symptoms.
There is extensive evidence that Mr. Johnson does not have a rational understanding of the reasons for his execution. As such, he is entitled by the Constitution to a "fair hearing" to assess his competency. This is true notwithstanding the Missouri Supreme Court's flawed ruling relying on a single affidavit by a prison therapist over the competency evaluation and report by a licensed psychiatrist.
Bush and Cleaver stressed "the moral depravity of executions" and warned that killing Johnson "would simply destroy yet another community while using the concepts of fairness and justice as a cynical pretext and likely in violation of the Eighth and 14th Amendments to the Constitution."
Parson on Monday rejected calls by the federal lawmakers and others that he halt the execution, order a competency hearing, and grant clemency, saying that "Johnny Johnson's crime is one of the most horrific murders that has come across my desk."
After being released from a mental hospital in January 2002, Johnson was staying with family friends in Valley Park that July and killed their 6-year-old daughter, Casey Williamson. A jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, kidnapping, and attempted rape in January 2005 and two months later a judge sentenced him to death.
"Casey was an innocent young girl who bravely fought Johnson until he took her life," said Parson. "My office has received countless letters in the last few weeks seeking justice for Casey. Although this won't bring her back, we hope that carrying out Johnson's sentence according to the court's order may provide some closure for Casey's loved ones."
As The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday after speaking with the child's parents, Angie Wideman and Ernie Williamson:
Williamson was quoted in a clemency application, filed by Johnson's lawyers, saying he did not want Johnson executed.
But in an interview with the Post-Dispatch, Williamson said those quotes didn't accurately represent what he wants to happen.
"I never said I didn't want Johnny Johnson to die," he said. "I would love to see him die a miserable death."
Williamson said he doesn't support capital punishment. Having spent time himself as an inmate at Potosi Correctional Center, where Johnson is housed, Williamson said death row inmates suffer far more alive than dead.
Larry Komp, one of Johnson's attorneys, said their hearts go out to Casey's family but said "the clemency petition is faithful to the statements of everyone quoted in it."
The governor's denial came after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit on Saturday reversed a stay granted last week by a three-judge panel from that court.
If Johnson is executed Tuesday evening at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic, and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, he will be the fourth person killed by Missouri this year, following Amber McLaughlin on January 3, Leonard Taylor on February 7, and Michael Tisius on June 6.
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