Kevin Johnson of Missouri was executed by lethal injection

Kevin Johnson of Missouri was convicted of killing a Kirkwood police officer in a fit of rage in 2005 was put to death by lethal injection on Tuesday night.

The now 37 year old died after an injection of pentobarbital at the state prison in Bonne Terre. It was the state’s second execution this year and the 17th nationally. Two more executions are scheduled in Missouri for the first few weeks of 2023.

Johnson’s attorneys didn’t deny that he killed Officer William McEntee in 2005, but contended he was sentenced to death in part because he is Black. But courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, and Republican Gov. Mike Parson declined to stop the execution.

Johnson declined to make a final statement before the lethal drug was administered.

In a first for modern executions in Missouri, Johnson was not in the execution room alone. His spiritual advisor, the Rev. Darryl Gray, sat at his side. The men spoke softly until the drug was administered. Gray read from the Bible as Johnson shut his eyes. Within seconds, all movement ceased. Gray, a leading St. Louis racial injustice activist, continued reading from the Bible or praying while patting Johnson’s shoulder.

“We read scripture and had a word of prayer,” Gray said. “He apologized again. He apologized to the victim’s family. He apologized to his family. He said he was looking forward to seeing his baby brother. And he said he was ready.” Gray said.

At the time of the murder, Johnson was 19 years old. His attorneys have asked the courts to intervene because of his age, after courts increasingly moved away from sentencing teen offenders to death since the Supreme Court banned the execution of offenders younger than 18 at the time of their crime, in 2005.

Johnson’s attorneys also have asked the courts to stop the execution because of his history with mental illness. Days leading up to the execution, Johnson’s 19-year-old daughter, Khorry Ramey, lost her effort to witness her father’s death. The federal judge who presided over the request denied the request based on a Missouri law that bars anyone under 21 from observing an execution.

“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.”

On July 5, 2005, McEntee, a husband and father of three, was sent to Johnson’s home with other police officers to serve a warrant for his arrest. Johnson was on probation for assaulting his girlfriend, and police believed he violated his probation.

When Johnson saw the officers arrive, he woke his 12-year-old brother, Joseph “Bam Bam” Long, who then ran next door to their grandmother’s house. The boy had a congenital heart defect, and once at his grandmother’s house, collapsed and began having a seizure.

During his testimony in court, Johnson said McEntee prevented his mother from entering the house to help his brother, who died a short time later at a hospital.

McEntee returned to the neighborhood later that evening in response to fireworks being shot off, which is when he encountered Johnson for a second time that night.

Johnson pulled a gun and shot McEntee. Johnson then approached McEntee and shot him again, but this time it was fatal.