Triple-murder case resurfaces
Published Sept. 11, 2007
Ernest Lee Johnson, convicted of committing a triple murder in 1994 in a Columbia general store, is now requesting that his death penalty be overturned for the third time.
In 1995, Johnson was convicted of bludgeoning three Casey's General Store employees to death with a hammer, a gun and a screwdriver.
In a taped interview with a mental health worker, Johnson said he was robbing the store in an attempt to obtain funds to buy cocaine.
Responsibility for case proceedings has moved from the police department to the courts.
On May 26, 1977, Missouri Governor Joseph Teasdale signed into immediate effect a new death penalty bill, following the 1976 Supreme Court decision that capital punishment was not cruel and unusual.
A 2001 Missouri law states that, in cases where jurors find "by a preponderance of evidence" that an individual convicted of first-degree murder is mentally retarded, the death penalty is instead replaced with life imprisonment without parole.
In 1998, Johnson's death penalty was overturned by the high court under the premise that Johnson had an ineffective lawyer.
Even with a new attorney, Johnson was issued a second death sentence in 2003. That sentence was also removed because his attorney was declared inefficient, after failing to provide adequate evidence to prove that Johnson was mentally retarded.
A 2003 test stated that Johnson's IQ was 67, three points lower than the average. The state decided the diagnosis was dependent on anecdotes from siblings and other individuals with questionable credibility.
Under Missouri law, criminals must have limitations in two "adaptive areas," including social skills, home living, health and safety, and these limitations must be documented before age 18.
No mental health professional found that Johnson was mentally retarded until the beginning of his third penalty-phase proceeding.
By then, Johnson was over 40.
Johnson and his attorney Elizabeth Carlyle are attempting to, for the third time, overturn his death sentence, with the defense that prosecutors did not prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Johnson was not mentally retarded.
Carlyle noted a 2002 Arizona court decision where the Supreme Court ruled that the jury must find "beyond a reasonable doubt" that legal factors were in place that called for the death penalty. She insisted that the same idea should apply in Johnson's case, and that the prosecution has an obligation to prove that the individual is not mentally retarded.
Assistant Attorney General Evan Buchheim argued the 2002 court decision applied only to factors that could increase a punishment.