Missouri Supreme Court declines to halt August execution of man convicted of killing child

By JIM SALTER
Associated Press

The Missouri Supreme Court has turned aside an appeal by a man scheduled to be executed in August for killing a 6-year-old girl. Johnny Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder in in the 2002 death of Casey Williamson in suburban St. Louis. He faces execution Aug. 1 unless the courts intervene or Republican Gov. Mike Parson grants clemency. Johnson’s lawyers said in the appeal that he is incompetent to be executed because his schizophrenia prevents him from understanding the link between his crime and the punishment. The state Supreme Court ruled that recent medical records suggest that medications are now controlling Johnson’s mental illness symptoms.