U.S. Supreme Court Denies Missouri Inmate’s Request to Die By Firing Squad

The U.S. Supreme Court is denying a Missouri death row inmate to die by firing squad.

Ernest Johnson was sentenced to death for the 1993 killing of 3 employees of a Casey’s General Store in Columbia during a robbery.

Johnson appealed to the court to allow an alternate means of execution, claiming that the lethal injection Missouri uses could cause seizures and severe pain due to a prior surgery to remove a brain tumor and epilepsy.

Missouri’s Supreme Court denied Johnson’s request for the use of nitrogen gas in 2019, but allowed him to seek out alternative methods used in other states.

The Eighth Circuit court denied Johnson’s request for an alternate method, saying he should have made the request earlier and today (Monday) the U.S. Supreme Court upheld that decision.