Johnson had previously asked that his execution be carried out by firing squad. At Johnson’s girlfriend’s house, officers found a bag with $443, coin wrappers, partially burned checks and tennis shoes matching bloody shoe prints from inside the store. Police officers searching a nearby field found a bloody screwdriver, gloves, jeans and a brown jacket, and questioned Johnson within hours of the killings. “This was a hideous crime,” said Kevin Crane, the Boone County prosecutor at the time.

Police found two victims in the store’s bathroom, and the third in a cooler. Bratcher also was stabbed in the hand with a screwdriver. He shot the victims with the borrowed gun, then attacked them with a claw hammer. On the video, Johnson said he became angry when Bratcher, who claimed not to have a safe key, tried to flush it down the toilet. Three workers were in the store: manager Mary Bratcher, 46, and employees Mabel Scruggs, 57, and Fred Jones, 58. In a 2004 videotaped interview with a psychologist shown in court, Johnson said he was under the influence of cocaine as he waited for the last customer to leave at closing time. 25-caliber pistol from his girlfriend’s 18-year-old son, with plans to rob the store for money to buy drugs. Johnson was a frequent customer of a Casey’s General Store. Johnson’s crime shook the central Missouri city of Columbia nearly 28 years ago. Louis and Emmanuel Cleaver of Kansas City -also called on Parson to show mercy to Johnson, who is Black.īut Parson announced Monday he would not grant clemency, and the courts declined to intervene. Racial justice activists and two Missouri members of congress - Democratic U.S.

Catholic leaders have been outspoken opponents of the death penalty in many states. In 2018, Pope Francis changed church teaching to say capital punishment can never be sanctioned because it constitutes an “attack” on human dignity. Carnahan, who died in 2000, was a Baptist, as is Parson. Mel Carnahan to grant clemency to Darrell Mease, weeks before Mease was to be put to death for a triple killing. Louis, Pope John Paul II persuaded Democratic Gov. It wasn’t the first time a pope has sought to intervene in a Missouri execution. Johnson’s humanity and the sacredness of all human life.” Parson announced Monday that he would not intervene. Mike Parson to grant clemency, telling Parson in a letter that the pope “wishes to place before you the simple fact of Mr. His attorney, Jeremy Weis, said Johnson also was born with fetal alcohol syndrome and lost about one-fifth of his brain tissue when a benign tumor was removed in 2008.Ī representative for Pope Francis was among those who urged Republican Gov. Johnson had a history of scoring extremely low on IQ tests, dating back to childhood. Missouri executes man for killing 3 in 1994

Shopping spree 1994