Entries tagged with “Ernest Johnson”
Research
Religion
,Jan 10, 2024
Catholic Organizers See “Renewed Momentum” for Death Penalty Abolition from Pope Francis’ Teachings
In 2018, Pope Francis formally revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church — its core teachings — to oppose the death penalty. Characterizing capital punishment as “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” he wrote that the Catholic Church “works with determination for its abolition worldwide.” This revision updated a 1997 Catechism edit by Pope John Paul II that permitted the death penalty in rare cases where it was deemed “the only possible way of effectively defending human…
Issues
Religion
,Oct 01, 2021
Missouri Moves to Execute Intellectually Disabled Death-Row Prisoner, As Former Governor, Court Justice, and Faith and Rights Leaders Seek Mercy
As the execution date nears for a Missouri man widely regarded to be intellectually disabled, a former Missouri Governor, Supreme Court Justice, and papal envoy have joined faith and civil rights leaders, and the prisoner’s lawyers in efforts to spare his life. Ernest Johnson (pictured) is scheduled to be executed on October 5, 2021. Despite significant evidence supporting Johnson’s claim that he is ineligible for the death penalty because of intellectual disability, the Missouri Supreme Court…
Issues
Native Americans
,May 31, 2021
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of May 24, 2021
NEWS (5/24 and 5/26/21) — Washington, D.C.: The U.S. Supreme Court issued rulings in two death-penalty cases, denying a defense petition to review an “as-applied” challenge to Missouri’s lethal-injection protocol and granting a prosecution petition to delay enforcement of a state-court ruling that had voided the conviction of an Oklahoma death-row prisoner. On May 24, the Court denied certiorari in Ernest Johnson v. Precythe, declining to review whether execution by lethal injection…
Issues
Apr 05, 2021
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of March 29, 2021
NEWS (3/31/21) — Florida: After finding that Florida death-row prisoner William Greg Thomas was entitled to present an untimely habeas corpus petition because his prior lawyer had abandoned him, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reviewed but denied Thomas’ challenge to his conviction and death sentence. The court held that Thomas was entitled to equitable tolling of the habeas corpus statute of limitations but ruled that his ineffective assistance claims were either…
Research
Apr 01, 2020
Capital Case Roundup — Court Rulings the Week of March 30, 2020
Nebraska (4/3/20) — In a state post-conviction appeal, the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the state’s capital sentencing process filed by death-row prisoner Jeffrey Hessler. Hessler argued that Nebraska’s three-judge sentencing proceedings violated his Sixth Amendment right to have a jury determine all facts necessary for a death sentence to be imposed. The court ruled that Hessler’s argument was untimely and therefore procedurally barred, and added that under the recent U.S.
Issues
New Voices
,Nov 03, 2015
Missouri Scheduled to Execute Man Despite Evidence of Intellectual Disability
Ernest Johnson (pictured) is scheduled to be executed in Missouri on November 3, despite strong evidence that he is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution. Johnson has shown signs of intellectual disability throughout his life: he walked and talked much later than his siblings, he was twice held back a grade in school, academic test scores placed him in the bottom 1 – 2% in math and reading, and his siblings say he struggled with basic skills like using a knife and fork.