Appeals court grants stay for Missouri man whose execution date was set for next week

Johnny Johnson, who was scheduled to die by execution next Tuesday in Missouri, has been granted a stay by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Attorneys for the 45 year old said he suffers from mental illness so severe that he is incompetent to die by lethal injection. Going forward with the execution, they argued, would violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The court’s 2-1 decision was announced in a one-page order issued Tuesday.

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office will ask the court to vacate the stay, spokeswoman Madeline Sieren said.

Johnson was convicted in the attempted rape and killing of Casey Williamson, 6, in 2002 in St. Louis County.

During a psychiatric evaluation earlier this year, Johnson told Dr. Bhushan Agharkar that he believes he communicates with beings from another dimension he calls the “Underworld.” Johnson also believes is a vampire and may be able to “reanimate” his organs if he eats food before his execution, a report said.

Johnson told Agharkar that Satan is using the state of Missouri to kill him and end the world.

The attorney general’s office argued delaying the execution would harm both the State and victims. They also said a prison counselor determined that Johnson’s auditory hallucinations “are well managed by medication” and that he was not incompetent to be executed.

The state has executed three people this year: Amber McLaughlin, Leonard “Raheem” Taylor and Michael Tisius. Tisius was granted a stay by a federal judge on May 31. Two days later, the Eighth Circuit overturned the stay and Tisius was killed June 6.

This story was originally published July 25, 2023 at 8:00 PM.

Katie Moore

The Kansas City Star

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Katie Moore was an enterprise and accountability reporter for The Star. She covered justice issues, including policing, prison conditions and the death penalty. She is a University of Kansas graduate and began her career as a reporter in 2015 in her hometown of Topeka, Kansas.