ST. LOUIS (AP) 鈥� A federal judge has denied a request from a 19-year-old woman to allow her to watch her father鈥檚 death by injection, upholding a Missouri law that bars anyone under 21 from witnessing an execution.
is set to be executed Tuesday for killing Kirkwood, Missouri, Police Officer William McEntee in 2005. Johnson鈥檚 lawyers have appeals pending that seek to spare his life.
to attend the execution, and the American Civil Liberties Union had filed an emergency motion with a federal court in Kansas City. The ACLU鈥檚 court filing said the age requirement served no safety purpose and violates Ramey鈥檚 constitutional rights. But U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes ruled late Friday that Ramey's constitutional rights would not be violated by the law.
鈥淚鈥檓 heartbroken that I won鈥檛 be able to be with my dad in his last moments,鈥� Ramey said in a statement. 鈥淢y dad is the most important person in my life. He has been there for me my whole life, even though he鈥檚 been incarcerated."
While the judge acknowledged that the law would cause emotional harm for Ramey, he found that was just one part of the court's consideration and the law did not violate her constitutional rights.
Ramey said she was praying that Gov. Michael Parson would grant her father clemency. Johnson鈥檚 lawyers have filed appeals seeking to halt the execution. They don鈥檛 challenge his guilt but claim racism played a role in the decision to seek the death penalty, and in the jury鈥檚 decision to sentence him to die. Johnson is Black and McEntee was white.
Johnson鈥檚 lawyers also have asked the courts to intervene for other reasons, including a history of mental illness and his age 鈥� he was 19 at the time of the crime. Courts have increasingly moved away from sentencing teen offenders to death since the Supreme Court in 2005 banned the execution of offenders who were younger than 18 at the time of their crime.
In a court filing to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Missouri Attorney General鈥檚 Office stated there were no grounds for court intervention.
鈥淭he surviving victims of Johnson鈥檚 crimes have waited long enough for justice, and every day longer that they must wait is a day they are denied the chance to finally make peace with their loss,鈥� the state petition stated.
The Associated Press
