Who is Kevin Johnson? Missouri Won't Let Daughter Attend Father's Execution

A federal judge has ruled that a 19-year-old woman cannot attend her father's execution.

Kevin Johnson, 37, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre on Tuesday for the 2005 killing of Kirkwood police officer William McEntee.

His attorneys have appeals pending that seek to spare his life.

But on Friday, a federal judge denied a emergency request from Johnson's daughter to attend his execution.

Corionsa "Khorry" Ramey is 19, the same age Johnson was when he committed the crime that led to his death sentence.

She challenged a Missouri law that bars anyone under 21 from witnessing an execution, arguing that not being able to witness the final moments of her only living parent's life was a violation of her constitutional rights.

U.S. District Judge Brian Wimes of the Western District of Missouri wrote in a ruling that the court "does not discount [Ramey's] allegations of emotional harm and does not dispute they are irreparable, both in a personal sense and a legal sense" if she were not able to witness the execution.

But Wimes concluded that the state's law does not violate Ramey's constitutional rights.

"I'm heartbroken that I won't be able to be with my dad in his last moments," Ramey said. "My dad is the most important person in my life. He has been there for me my whole life, even though he's been incarcerated. He is a good father, the only parent I have left."

Corene Kendrick, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project, and a lawyer for Ramey, said: "We are extremely disappointed in the decision upholding this irrational and illogical law, which only serves to gratuitously punish Ms. Ramey.

"Compounding her pain and grief by barring her from being with her father will do nothing to provide closure or healing to anyone else. The State of Missouri can still do right by Ms. Ramey if the Governor grants her father clemency."

Kendrick added that if 19 "is not old enough to witness an execution, then the state should spare Mr. Johnson's life for what he did when he was 19."

Johnson's attorney Shawn Nolan added: "Every aspect of this case is a tragedy, but we promise Khorry that we are not done fighting for her father."

Nolan said the Missouri Supreme Court will hear arguments from both Johnson's attorneys and a special prosecutor appointed to look into the case "that this execution cannot proceed as scheduled, because the conviction and sentence were infected by racism."

He added: "We hope the court will grant these motions to stay the execution and give the legal system a chance to right these egregious wrongs."

Johnson's attorneys have argued that racism played a role in the decision to seek the death penalty, and in the jury's decision to sentence him to die. Johnson is Black and McEntee was white.

Johnson's lawyers have also asked the courts to halt the execution for other reasons, including a history of mental illness and his age at the time of the crime.

Meanwhile, E.E. Keenan, the special prosecutor appointed by the St. Louis Prosecutor's Office to look into the case, filed a motion earlier in November—which a judge denied—to vacate Johnson's death sentence, arguing the evidence "clearly and convincingly shows that improper racial factors played a substantial role throughout the process."

Keenan's filing said former St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch's office handled five cases involving the deaths of police officers during his 28 years in office. McCulloch sought the death penalty in the four cases involving Black defendants, but not in the one case where the defendant was white.

In a recent interview with St. Louis Public Radio, Johnson took responsibility for killing McEntee, but said he wants to live for his daughter and his baby grandson.

McEntee had been among the officers sent to Johnson's home on July 5, 2005, to serve a warrant for his arrest. Jonson was on probation for assaulting his girlfriend, and police thought he had violated the terms.

He saw the officers arrive from a bedroom window and woke his 12-year-old brother, Joseph "Bam Bam" Long. The boy ran next door to their grandmother's house, but then collapsed.

At his trial, Johnson testified that McEntee had kept his mother from entering the house to help his brother, who died a short time later at a hospital. Johnson didn't understand it at the time, but the boy had a congenital heart defect.

In the interview with St. Louis Public Radio, Johnson recalled kicking his bedroom door off its hinges after his grandmother told him his brother had died. He roamed the neighborhood "trying to get a grip on things," he said, and screaming: "He killed my brother!"

Less than two hours later, McEntee returned to the neighborhood responding to an unrelated call about fireworks being shot off.

He encountered Johnson, who pulled a gun and shot the officer. He then approached the injured officer as he struggled on the ground and shot him again, killing him.

"I think as humans, we tend to shift the blame," Johnson said in the interview. "I don't think [McEntee] did anything that was wrong that day that I can even blame him for."