Missouri officials want to kill Kevin Johnson tomorrow — despite a special prosecutor finding that racism affected the prosecution & sentencing. He and Johnson are seeking a stay of execution from the Missouri Supreme Court. Arguments were today. Law Dork: lawdork.com/p/missouri-wan…
BREAKING: Missouri Supreme Court REJECTS, on a 5-2 vote, motions for stay of execution for Kevin Johnson. The state supreme court will not stop Tuesday's scheduled execution based on the special prosecutor's request in the case.
Here's the majority opinion, which is per curiam, but joined by five justices. scribd.com/document/61096…
Here is the dissenting opinion, by Judge Breckenridge, joined by Judge Draper. scribd.com/document/61096…
JUST IN: Johnson's legal team responds that they will be taking the case to #SCOTUS, noting, "The Missouri Supreme Court unconscionably refused to simply pause Mr. Johnson’s execution date so that the Prosecutor could present this evidence to the lower court ...."
And, as always, to keep this reporting independent and available to everyone, I need people to subscribe — including paid subscriptions, if you can afford it. Thank you. lawdork.com
NEWS: Lawyers for Kevin Johnson have asked #SCOTUS to stay tonight’s scheduled execution in Missouri. The case is docket No. 22A463.
Missouri has responded at #SCOTUS, opposing Kevin Johnson's request for a stay of execution.
Missouri's execution of Kevin Johnson is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.
Less than an hour until Missouri plans to kill Kevin Johnson. There is no stay of execution in place currently, although a request is pending at #SCOTUS. All of the briefing is in; we are awaiting an order from #SCOTUS or Kavanaugh, the circuit justice for the 8th Circuit.
Reminder that the lawyer for Missouri on Monday said, "The fact of the matter is that cases can be pending while an execution proceeds." (See: lawdork.com/p/missouri-wan…)
So, it's not even clear whether the state will wait on #SCOTUS, though most do.
BREAKING: #SCOTUS will not stop the execution of Kevin Johnson in Missouri tonight. Justices Sotomayor and Jackson would grant the stay of execution.
Please don't RT clout guys! People who don't do any reporting, and instead, just take other people's work for RTs. Most of them have been shamed into eventually giving credit, but they'll do it as an aside or as a follow-up tweet — which gets a small percentage of the engagement.
Yes, there are lots of problems that make journalism difficult as a financially sustainable endeavor, but few things get more under my skin than the fact that a new one of these clout-chasing guys appears here every year and just becomes the clout-monster-du-jour.
Last night, a reporter broke a story. His main tweet has 6K likes. A clout guy basically copy-and-pasted the author's tweet (incl the "New"), put the author's @ at the end, & it has 7K likes. Another clout guy did the 2nd-tweet credit thing. First tweet: No story or @, 51K likes.
i’m not leaving (yet), but i am noting that we’ve gone from bad to worse over the past week. and whatever’s happening this holiday weekend is even worse.
Today at @lawdorknews, I delve into the death penalty, looking at three stories — from Alabama, Missouri, and Oklahoma — that illustrate some of its many failings. lawdork.com/p/the-broken-a…
A look at “what happens when states put a single-minded mission of carrying out executions ahead of either humanity or justice.” lawdork.com/p/the-broken-a…
After a botched execution and two botched attempts at executions, including one last week, Alabama’s governor on Monday put a pause on executions.
It took way too long for such a step, and her rationale was bunk, but it’s a pause. lawdork.com/p/the-broken-a…