US high court halts Missouri execution

This photo provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections shows Ernest Johnson. Johnson was convicted of killing three Columbia, Mo., convenience store workers with a claw hammer in 1994. Missouri Department of Corrections via AP

WASHINGTON, United States—The US Supreme Court halted late Tuesday the scheduled execution of a convicted murderer, saying his lethal injection should be delayed pending a ruling on whether his medical condition would cause undue suffering.

Ernest Johnson, 55, had been scheduled to be put to death after 6:00 p.m. (0000 GMT Wednesday) in Missouri.

Johnson, who was convicted of bludgeoning three people to death at a gas station in 1994, suffers from a slow growth brain tumor that was partially removed in 2008.

The execution was due to be carried out with drugs including pentobarbital, which numbs the central nervous system including parts of the brain.

Johnson’s lawyers say the use of this drug will cause him to experience seizures and excruciating pain, in violation of the US Constitution’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Defense attorneys also argued that Johnson has an intellectual disability, with an IQ score as low as 63.

“The application for stay of execution… is granted pending the disposition of petitioner’s appeal,” the court said in a ruling.

“In the currently pending appeal, the Court of Appeals will be required to decide whether petitioner’s complaint was properly dismissed for failure to state a claim or whether the case should have been permitted to progress to the summary judgment stage.”

In a ruling last week, a court in Missouri admitted that Johnson might suffer a death so painful as to violate the constitution.

But it said Johnson did not propose any alternative that would allow his execution to proceed swiftly. So the judge rejected his appeal.

The latest turn in Johnson’s case comes amid heated debate in the United States over the use of lethal injections to put people to death, particularly after botched executions in which inmates appeared to suffer.

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