WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US citizen Ernest Lee Johnson, convicted of committing a triple homicide in 1994, will be executed by lethal injection in the state of Missouri despite suffering intellectual disability, a US advocacy group said in a press release.
"The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment," Amnesty International USA Executive Director Steven Hawkins stated on Tuesday. "It’s even more outrageous when used against someone with strong evidence of an intellectual disability."
In February 1994, Johnson robbed a convenience store driven by his addiction to crack cocaine. He killed three people during the robbery using a hammer, a screw driver and a gun.
On Monday, the Missouri Supreme Court turned down without an explanation Johnson’s request to appoint a judge to consider evidence that he is intellectually disabled, in which case it would be unconstitutional to execute him.
He is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday evening.
"Johnson’s case highlights just how broken the capital punishment system is in the United States," Hawkins said.
The United States has executed 25 people in 2015, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
