Kevin Johnson death penalty: 19-yr-old Corionsa Ramey's appeal to witness father's execution rejected
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI: Corionsa ‘Khorry’ Ramey, who appealed to witness the execution of her father by the authorities has been denied. In a court’s ruling on Friday, November 25, the judge denied her stating that a state law is constitutional, “It is in the public's interest to allow states to enforce their laws and administer state prisons without court intervention." Kevin Johnson is set to be executed on November 29, charged with the murder of Missouri police officer William McEntee in 2005.
In an emergency motion brought by the American Civil Liberties Union in a Kansas City federal court, it claimed that a state law stopping anyone under 21 in Missouri from witnessing an execution "serves no safety purpose and violates Ramey's constitutional rights." The father-daughter bond grew over the years through a series of phone calls, visits, letters, and emails, as Ramey was 2 when her father Johnson, 37, was inducted in the criminal case. "I have a son that needs his papa and I'm a daughter who needs her dad," said Ramey, as per CBS affiliate KMOV.
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Her court document also read, “If my father were dying in the hospital, I would sit by his bed holding his hand and praying for him until his death, both as a source of support for him and as a support for me as a necessary part of my grieving process and for my peace of mind,” reported the Daily Mail.
McEntee, a husband, and father-of-three went to serve Johnson a warrant for his arrest on July 5, 2005, for violating his parole probation. Johnson saw officers arrive and awoke his 12-year-old brother, Joseph ‘Bam Ba’ Long, who immediately rushed next door to their grandmother’s house. After reaching, Long who was a patient with a congenital heart defect allegedly collapsed and began to have a seizure.
Johnson testified at trial that McEntee had stopped his mother from assisting his brother by barring her to enter the house, who died at a hospital later. On that same evening, McEntee returned to the neighborhood when called on unrelated reports of fireworks being shot off, Johnson who was present there saw the officer and shot him with a gun, as per the report.
He followed it with another gunshot as he walked closer to McEntee who was kneeling from the hit, and died. Johnson’s lawyers had tried to stop his execution, alleging that the death penalty was racially motivated by the jury.
The Missouri State will witness two other death penalties in the coming months including, convicted killers Scott McLaughlin on January 3 and Leonard Taylor on February 7.