Page 6 of 12 FirstFirst ... 45678 ... LastLast
Results 51 to 60 of 119

Thread: Ernest Lee Johnson - Missouri Execution - October 5, 2021

  1. #51
    Senior Member Member ted75601's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    133
    Just do it and get it over with! Nobody actually gives a rat's rear about whether the inmate suffers except the inmate himself and he certainly didn't care about the suffering of his victim(s). As far as am concerned, the lawyers who say they care about the patient's suffering are only using it as an excuse to delay the execution. The longer the delay, the more they can bill - it's all about increasing the income of the lawyers. Am I cynical? - damn right but more than that I believe I am accurate. Anybody in their right mind disagree?

  2. #52
    Senior Member CnCP Addict TrudieG's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Posts
    557
    I totally agree with you Ted herein lies the irony of it all. Those on death row care about suffering during their own death while they didn't give a rats rear about the suffering of their victims. As for the Lawyers as long as each appeal is successful they keep billing for another round.

  3. #53
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    4,795
    Federal court dismisses death row inmate's execution challenge

    A federal court on Friday dismissed the case of a man sentenced to death for a 1994 triple murder, ruling he did not provide enough evidence that the state’s execution protocol will cause him pain when the drug is administered.

    Greg Kays, U.S. chief judge for the Western District of Missouri, wrote in an 11-page order that Ernest L. Johnson had not successfully argued that pentobarbital, Missouri’s drug of choice for lethal injection executions, could trigger seizures due to Johnson’s brain condition.

    “He does not, for example, explain the effects of pentobarbital on seizures, on defective brains, on any brains, or on the body,” Kays wrote. “He does not compare the rates of seizures in people given pentobarbital versus the rates of seizures in the public at large. Quite simply, there are no facts for the court to draw any reasonable inference that the state’s execution protocol is sure or very likely to trigger Johnson’s seizures.”

    The court gave Johnson until Oct. 21 to file an amended complaint addressing the issues detailed in its order. The dismissal was ordered after the state, represented by Missouri Assistant Attorney General Gregory Goodwin, filed a motion to toss the complaint.

    http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/...d7cff06d3.html
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  4. #54
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    New Jersey, unfortunately
    Posts
    4,382
    Court denies Columbia man's attempt to throw out death penalty

    JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A federal court has denied another attempt from a Columbia man to throw out his impending execution.

    Judge Greg Kays dismissed Ernest L. Johnson's petition in the Western District of Missouri on Monday. It was the second time since an appellate court sent Johnson's case back to the district level that Judge Kays dismissed the issue. Kays first dismissed Johnson's lawsuit in September without prejudice, which allowed Johnson to file a new complaint.

    The U.S. Supreme Court stopped Johnson's execution just hours before he was set to die from lethal injection. Various courts have upheld the death penalty for Johnson, convicted in 1995 for killing Mabel Scruggs, Fred Jones and Mary Bratcher at a convenience store on the corner of Rice Road and Ballenger Lane.

    Kays' decision said Johnson once more failed to meet the legal standard needed to claim lethal injection would amount to cruel and unusual punishment. Johnson's lawyers, Brian Gaddy and Jeremy Weis, once more relied on Dr. Joel Zivot's analysis of Johnson's brain. A 2011 MRI showed scar tissue remaining from the removal of a tumor three years earlier. Zivot said Johnson could suffer a "significant" seizure when given pentobarbital, Missouri's drug used in executions.

    Kays wrote that the evidence presented still didn't show that it was "sure or very likely" that Johnson would suffer a painful seizure during the injection.

    "While a 'significant' risk is noteworthy, it does not mean the same thing as 'sure or very likely,'" Kays wrote.

    The judge also denied the argument that "nitrogen-induced hypoxia" could be used instead of pentobarbital. The method has never been used in the U.S., but Missouri still allows use of lethal gas. Gaddy and Weis claimed it would be a more "humane" method of execution, but Kays wrote that they did not meet the legal standard that it was "capable of being readily implemented." The state would need to develop new protocols, Kays said, and train Department of Corrections staff in that method.

    Kays dismissed the suit without prejudice, meaning Johnson could file a new petition to re-argue his case. However, the statute of limitations may bar him from doing so. Inmates have five years from the time they become aware that an execution would be "cruel and unusual" to ask a court to toss out the particular method the state plans to use. For Johnson, that would be "at least" 2011, when the MRI was performed, according to Kays.

    http://www.abc17news.com/news/top-st...alty/474498136
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  5. #55
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    New Jersey, unfortunately
    Posts
    4,382
    August 26, 2017

    Columbia man on death row asks federal appeals court to reconsider lethal injection

    A man on death row for a 1994 triple murder in Columbia wants a federal appeals court to reconsider whether he is too ill to be killed by lethal injection.

    Death row inmate Ernest Lee Johnson’s attorneys asked the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this month to determine how much proof death row inmates are required to provide to show a particular execution method will cause them unnecessary pain. Attorneys Jeremy Weis and Brian Gaddy argue that the U.S. District Court is holding the ill death-row inmate “to an impossible factual ... standard” by requiring him to prove without any doubt how his body will respond to lethal injection.

    “The issues involved in this and other similar litigation ... do not lend themselves to experimentation and practice on similarly situated persons,” the attorneys wrote in a court filing.

    Johnson was sentenced to death for the gruesome 1994 murders of three Columbia convenience store employees: Mary Bratcher, 46; Fred Jones, 58; and Mable Scruggs, 57. Courts twice overturned his sentence, but a third was upheld. His execution once was scheduled for Nov. 3, 2015, but the U.S. Supreme Court granted him the opportunity to argue that his unique medical condition might cause him cruel and unusual pain during a lethal injection procedure.

    To make a successful Eighth Amendment claim, Johnson must meet a standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court and show lethal injection is “sure or very likely” to cause him unnecessary suffering. The U.S. District Court has repeatedly dismissed Johnson’s arguments for failure to meet that standard.

    Johnson’s attorneys argue that a slow-growing, benign brain tumor their client had partially removed in 2008 could cause seizures and severe pain in reaction to pentobarbital. Pentobarbital, which is the lethal injection drug Missouri employs, shares a common molecular structure to a “seizure-promoting compound” used in electroconvulsive therapy, according to the filing.

    A doctor who evaluated Johnson’s condition stated pentobarbital presents a “significant medical risk for a serious seizure.” The court contended the doctor’s opinion didn’t meet its requirements.

    Death-row prisoners can’t prove the impossible, Johnson’s attorneys wrote in their filing.

    “While the pentobarbital will undoubtedly kill Mr. Johnson ... the potential side effects of the drug cannot be determined with the absolute precision required by the district court,” the attorneys wrote.

    To prevail on his challenge, Johnson also must detail an alternative method of execution. Missouri law allows the use of nitrogen gas for executions, though the state no longer has a working gas chamber. Johnson has suggested using a hood instead of a chamber.

    The state contends as is not a feasible or readily available method for execution in Missouri and question whether the method would reduce the chance of pain.

    One of Johnson’s attorneys, Jeremy Weis, told the Tribune he expects the state to file a response to their appeal within the next few weeks. It could take months before the appeals court hears the case.

    “We are a long way from a decision for” Johnson, Weis said.

    http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/...thal-injection
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  6. #56
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    New Jersey, unfortunately
    Posts
    4,382
    Attorney General’s office seeks second execution date for Ernest Lee Johnson

    The Missouri Attorney General’s office hopes to get a second execution date for Ernest Lee Johnson while attorneys continue to spar in the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

    Assistant Attorney General Gregory Goodwin requested this week the appeals court deny Johnson another opportunity to argue his case before a court and affirm previous decisions to dismiss his case. The brief filed by the state also asks the court to act quickly because of a pending request for an execution warrant from the Missouri Supreme Court.

    Johnson is on death row for the 1994 triple murder of Columbia convenience store employees Mary Bratcher, 46; Fred Jones, 58; and Mable Scruggs, 57. The U.S. Supreme Court granted Johnson a last-minute stay of execution in November 2015. Justice Samuel Alito granted the stay to ensure the federal courts properly dismissed Johnson’s last appeal.

    In his latest appeal, Johnson’s attorneys asked the court to determine how much proof death row inmates are required to provide to show a particular execution method might cause unnecessary pain. A benign brain tumor Johnson had removed along with some of his brain matter in 2008 causes their client seizures, attorneys Jeremy Weis and Brian Gaddy argue. The lethal injection drugs the state use may cause a painful seizure, the appeal states, and the state should consider using lethal gas.

    Johnson’s appeal is barred by the statute of limitations, Goodwin’s brief states. The death row inmate also didn’t present enough facts to establish whether the pentobarbital used in lethal injections is “sure or very likely to present a substantial risk of severe pain,” the brief states.

    The request for an execution warrant argues that the U.S. Supreme Court stay expired once the appeals court concluded it dismissed the case properly. The death row inmate has completed the ordinary process for reviewing his convictions and death sentence, the state argues in its motion.

    "As a result of the proceedings in the Eighth Circuit ... the United States Supreme Court’s stay for Johnson’s execution pending appeal expired,” Goodwin wrote. “There is no good reason ... for this court to decline to set a second execution date.”

    Johnson’s attorneys filed a response arguing the stay remains in effect. The Missouri Supreme Court has not yet made a decision on the execution motion.

    Court Communications Counsel Beth Riggert said on Wednesday there is no timeline the court is required to follow to respond to the motion.

    http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/...st-lee-johnson
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  7. #57
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    On May 16, 2018, oral argument will be heard in Johnson's appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The panel will be made up of Chief Judge Smith (G.W. Bush), Senior Judge Beam (Reagan) and Judge Colloton (G.W. Bush).

    http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/webcal/may18omh.pdf

  8. #58
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    4,795
    Attorneys argue over need, ability to use lethal gas in Columbia death penalty case

    By Lucas Geisler
    ABC 17

    OMAHA, Neb. - A Columbia man on death row for two decades sought an untried method of execution in federal court on Wednesday.

    Attorneys for Ernest Lee Johnson argued in federal appeals court that lethal gas, instead of lethal injection, should be used to kill him, claiming the injection would cause painful seizures that amount to cruel and unusual punishment. A federal district judge dismissed Johnson's petition last year over the issue, and Johnson appealed it the Eighth Circuit.

    Johnson was first sentenced to death in 1995 for murdering Mabel Scruggs, Mary Bratcher and Fred Jones at a convenience store on Ballenger Lane the year prior. Two juries upheld that decision after higher courts reversed the decisions.

    The U.S. Supreme Court delayed Johnson's death hours before his execution in Nov. 2015, claiming the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals didn't properly hear the case. Johnson's case was sent back to the district level, where he has attempted to persuade judges to order lethal gas be used in his execution.

    Jeremy Weis, one of the attorneys representing Johnson, said a doctor's examination of Johnson proved pentobarbital posed a "significant" risk of causing painful seizures due to a brain surgery he had in 2008. Judges questioned Dr. Joel Zivot's affidavit, saying it did not meet the legal standard that cruel and unusual punishment was a "likely or very likely" result of the injection.

    "Those are legal terms, and not necessarily medical terms," Weis said. "He's using medical terminology. The legal terms are what the court has used in terms of sure or very likely."

    Weis said the state could use nitrogen hypoxia instead. An inmate would have a hood secured over their head and nitrogen gas pumped into it, suffocating them. Oklahoma recently approved the method for use, and began developing policies to begin conducting executions with it.

    "The things to implement it are easily available," Weis said. "Nitrogen gas is an inert gas that is available on the open market, and the use of a hood or a mask would allow for a simple process."

    A person must prove an alternate method of execution is feasible and readily implementable, according to a Supreme Court decision. Assistant Attorney General Gregory Goodwin argued nitrogen hypoxia met neither standard. Oklahoma's own study of the method pointed out problems.

    "Even a small amount of oxygen that enters the environment has a serious chance to disrupt the entire execution," Goodwin said.

    http://www.abc17news.com/news/top-st...case/742716160

  9. #59
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    New Jersey, unfortunately
    Posts
    4,382
    Reversed and remanded to the District Court for further proceedings today by the 8th Circuit.

    https://cases.justia.com/federal/app...?ts=1535383824

    SIGH
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  10. #60
    Senior Member Member DStafford's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    138
    I think inmates should be given a choice. Lethal injection or an eye for an eye - die the same way your victim did.

    -Dawn

Page 6 of 12 FirstFirst ... 45678 ... LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •