Supreme Court of Missouri / Aug 31, 2021
State ex rel. Ernest Johnson, Petitioner, vs. Paul Blair, Warden of Potosi Correctional Center, Respondent.
Ernest Johnson, a death row inmate, filed an original petition for writ of habeas corpus with the Missouri Supreme Court, alleging he is intellectually disabled and thus actually innocent of the death penalty, that jury instructions on intellectual disability were erroneous, and that lethal injection would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. The Court denied the petition. It found Johnson failed to prove intellectual disability and was not entitled to relief on his instructional error or method of execution claims.