Missouri Death Row Inmate Asks US Supreme Court to Intervene

A Missouri death row inmate who says execution drugs could interact with his medical condition is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reported Thursday that Ernest Lee Johnson is arguing that a brain tumor removed by surgeons could cause seizures and severe pain in reaction to Missouri’s execution drug.

Johnson was sentenced to death for killing three Casey’s General Store workers during a Columbia robbery in 1994.

Johnson’s appeal is moving through lower courts. But Johnson wants the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene because the high court is currently considering a similar case of another Missouri death row inmate with a rare medical condition that causes blood-filled tumors.

Both argue complications with their conditions and the execution drug could lead to cruel and unusual punishment.