Pope calls for clemency for Missouri inmate ahead of execution

Pope Francis last week called on Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) to grant clemency to an inmate ahead of his execution, which is scheduled for Tuesday.

Ernst Lee Johnson, 61, is on death row for the killing of three convenience store workers during a robbery in 1994. His execution by lethal injection is scheduled for after 6 p.m. local time on Tuesday, according to The New York Times.

He is being held at a state prison in Bonne Terre, Mo.

Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S., penned a letter to Parsons on Sept. 27 on behalf of the Pope, which emphasized Johnson’s “humanity and the sacredness of all human life,” according to Vatican News.

The Pope’s plea comes two years after he changed the Catholic Church’s teaching on the death penalty when he called capital punishment “inadmissible” in all circumstances because it “attacks” human dignity.

Johnson’s lawyers have tried to get Johnson off of death row, contending that the execution of their client would be unlawful because he is intellectually disabled, the Times reported.

According to a 2002 Supreme Court decision, executing individuals who are intellectually disabled is a breach of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

The Missouri Supreme Court in August, however, denied Johnson’s petition that argued he was qualified for the death penalty because of his disabilities, according to the Times. It found that his ability to remember information related to the crime probe and that he was able “to plan, strategize, and problem solve — contrary to a finding of substantial subaverage intelligence.”

The court also reportedly rejected his request for his execution to occur by a firing squad.

Francis said his appeal for Johnson to be granted clemency is not “based solely upon Mr. Johnson’s doubtful intellectual capacity.”

He also said the request was not grounded “on the facts and circumstances of his crimes,” adding “Who could not argue that grave crimes such as his deserve grave punishments?”

Johnson’s execution appears to remain on track, after Parsons released a statement Monday confirming that “the state of Missouri will carry out the sentence of Mr. Ernest Lee Johnson” on Tuesday.

“The state is prepared to deliver justice and carry out the lawful sentence Mr. Johnson received in accordance with the Missouri Supreme Court’s order,” Parsons said.

Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.) also urged Parsons to take Johnson off of death row, contending that such a move would be unconstitutional because he has intellectual disabilities, according to the Times.

Johnson with a hammer killed three workers at a convenience store that he was robbing in 1994. He was convicted by a jury in Boone County, Mo., in 2005 for three counts of first-degree murder, according to the Times.