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45-year-old Johnny Johnson was convicted of killing 6-year-old Casey Williamson in July 2002. On Tuesday, at 6:33 pm local time, Johnson was declared dead after being executed with a lethal injection. The Department of Corrections released a handwritten statement by Johnny Johnson, who expressed his remorse.
Trigger warning: The article contains references to s*xual assault and child abuse. Readers' discretion is advised.
Prosecutors and members of the victim's family were present when the execution took place. Johnny Johnson, who suffered from schizophrenia, was lying on his back and appeared to be listening to his spiritual advisor, shortly before he was executed, as per NBC News.
Johnny Johnson abducted and killed a child in 2002
In 2002, Johnny Johnson abducted 6-year-old Casey Williamson and beat her brutally, till she died. The tragic incident took place in the St. Louis area suburb of Valley Park. The victim vanished on July 26, 2002, and shortly after, her remains were discovered near her house in a pit.
As per NBC, Casey's mother was friends with Johnny Johnson's older sister. Just a few hours before the murder took place, they let him sleep on their couch for the night. The next morning, Johnson lured the child into an abandoned factory, where he tried to s*xually assault her and eventually beat her to death.
At 6:33 pm local time on Tuesday, Johnson received a lethal dose of pentobarbital at a state prison in Bonne Terre. He apologized and expressed his remorse in a written statement, which the authorities revealed just a few hours before the execution.
"God Bless. Sorry to the people and family, I hurt," it read.
Johnson's attorneys attempted to block the execution
Johnny Johnson's attorneys tried to prevent him from being executed by arguing that he was mentally unstable and suffered from schizophrenia. However, the request was rejected by the court.
Several Justices including Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Elena Kagan were against the sentence and wrote in a statement:
"The Court today paves the way to execute a man with documented mental illness before any court meaningfully investigates his competency to be executed."
They continued:
"He deserves a hearing where a court can finally determine whether his execution violates the Eighth Amendment. Instead, this court rushes to finality, bypassing fundamental procedural and substantive protections."
Although the judges mentioned that he was delusional and "deserves a hearing," Former St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch believed that the delusions were "nonsense" and Johnson had "inflicted horrors" on the victim and her grieving family. McCullough further stated that Johnson knew what he was doing when he brutally killed Casey.
Casey's family was in favor of the execution as they wished to "send the message that it is not okay to terrorize and murder a child."
