Appellate court rules that Missouri man with schizophrenia can be executed after all

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH
Associated Press

The planned execution of a 45-year-old Missouri man with schizophrenia is back on after an appellate court reversed course Saturday. Johnny Johnson is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Tuesday at the state prison in Bonne Terre for killing 6-year-old Casey Williamson after trying to sexually assault her in 2002. The execution was halted last Tuesday by a divided three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court. But after the Missouri Attorney General’s Office asked that the full court reconsider, that decision was reversed in a 7-3 ruling. The case will likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court before the scheduled execution date. The appeals centered around Johnson’s mental competency.