A Missouri man who killed a police officer that he blamed for his brother’s loss of life and whose teenage daughter begged to be at his execution has written a memoir of his closing days.
Kevin Johnson was 19 when he murdered St. Louis police officer William McEntee in what associates described had been a ‘crime of ardour’ after the loss of life of his brother, 12, in 2005.
Johnson was 37 years previous when he was executed on November 29 and had penned his closing ideas within the 97 days main as much as his loss of life by deadly injection on the state jail in Bonne Terre.
He wrote to his former elementary faculty principal Pam Stanfield, telling her how he feared loss of life and mentioned he selected to not eat his closing meal in worry of defecating when administered the deadly injection.
The cop killer frequently wrote his ideas down whereas serving out his sentence and had already self-published three books whereas in jail, one beneath his identify and two beneath the pseudonym J.Okay Tatum.
Kevin Johnson, 37, died by deadly injection of pentobarbital on the state jail in Bonne Terre for the 2005 homicide of Kirkwood Police Officer William McEntee – he has written a memoir
McEntee (pictured), a husband and father of three, was despatched to Johnson’s house on July 5, 2005, to serve a warrant for his arrest
Stanfield who reconnected with Johnson after the arrest had saved in contact with the inmate for 17 years and is now serving to compile his closing ideas right into a memoir entitled ‘Journey to the Gurney.’
‘My future appeared clear now that there was no extra maybes and what ifs,’ wrote Johnson in a journal entry earlier than his loss of life.
‘The solar was hitting my face arduous, and I loved each second of it as I puzzled if this could be my final time having the ability to really feel it.
‘Life is meant to be a present and loss of life is meant to be a curse that sneaks up on you at the hours of darkness of evening ideally in your sleep.
‘The terminally unwell knew they had been dying however not even they know the precise day and time.’
Within the lead as much as Johnson’s loss of life the inmates plight garnered nationwide consideration after a last-ditch try was made to halt his execution, with arguments that the 37-year-old had confronted racism throughout his trial.
Stanfield advised the Kansas Metropolis Star that she supported him whereas he was in jail and infrequently the pair would encourage one another’s writing endeavors.
Johnson wrote his first ebook, ‘A Good Weekend to Die’ which Amazon describes as a ‘modern-day Bonnie and Clyde story’ in February 2021.
Following the primary fictional story, the 37-year-old proceeded to write down two different self-published books, ‘Cop Killer’ printed January 2022 and ‘State Property Dying to Dwell’ printed in July 2022.
He wrote to his former elementary faculty principal Pam Stanfield, telling her how he feared loss of life – she’s serving to compile his closing ideas right into a memoir referred to as ‘Journey to the Gurney’
Johnson wrote his first ebook, ‘A Good Weekend to Die’ which Amazon describes as a ‘modern-day Bonnie and Clyde story’ in February 2021
Cop Killer has been described as a ‘visceral depiction of 1 man’s journey from childhood, by means of teenage years, and life as an grownup on loss of life row’ on Amazon
State Property Dying to Dwell, printed later within the 12 months, is described as ‘a strong story of 1 man’s life after he was convicted of Capital Homicide’
Cop Killer has been described as a ‘visceral depiction of 1 man’s journey from childhood, by means of teenage years, and life as an grownup on loss of life row’ on Amazon.
Whereas State Property Dying to Dwell, printed later within the 12 months, is described as ‘a strong story of 1 man’s life after he was convicted of Capital Homicide’ on Amazon.
The supportive former principal of Johnson had been receiving emails from the convicted killer documenting his final months to be printed posthumously.
‘I do assume he’s leaving a legacy,’ mentioned Stanfield.
As he wrote down his closing ideas Johnson probed the system which discovered him on loss of life row.
‘This conservative state has a zero tolerance for black guys who hurt or kill white individuals,’ Johnson wrote.
‘I’ve killed a white man of worth and there was no different punishment besides loss of life.’
‘Keep optimistic JK,’ everybody near me would instruct.’
For weeks, he had ‘walked round in worry, on eggshells’ questioning if the Missouri Supreme Court docket would difficulty a loss of life warrant.
‘Out of my whole seventeen years of incarceration, awaiting the court docket’s determination needed to be probably the most tortuous mind-boggling expertise ever.’
As he approached a jail employees member, ‘it turned extra clear than the clear blue waters of the Pacific Ocean’ he mentioned explaining {that a} jail worker learn his loss of life warrant.
‘I had held up fairly properly the complete time main as much as this closing studying however as these phrases spewed from his lips, I may really feel myself breaking internally,’ he wrote.
Johnson mentioned that he was strip searched, a course of that he had discovered demeaning, when he entered the jail system years prior.
‘I had gotten butt bare for these guards a lot that I may stroll utterly nude round Occasions Sq. on New Yr’s Eve and never really feel disgrace.’
He was launched to the unit supervisor, a caseworker and a psych physician, Johnson defined in his emails and notes to Stanfield.
‘[The doctor] was tasked with ensuring that I wasn’t having concepts of harming myself or anybody else,’ he wrote.
‘One thing that I assumed was ridiculous. I used to be condemned to die in three months, and so they noticed essentially match to protect me till that date. Why?
‘I simply wanted to be alone in a quiet place so I may totally assess the whole lot of the scenario.’
He entered cell 9 the place there was a steel sink and bathroom, a three-foot-by-three-foot bathe, a concrete slab sometimes used as a shelf or desk and a steel stool bolted to the ground, he described.
Johnson (proper) didn’t make a closing assertion and refused his final meal however spoke along with his religious advisor, Reverend Darryl Grey (left) within the moments previous to his execution
Dailymail.com tried contacting Grey, who after the execution, mentioned he wanted time to regroup as a result of he did not imagine Johnson deserved to die
A bunk mattress had a two-and-a-half-inch thick gray mattress and centered above the bunk was a window measuring 4 inches extensive and 4 toes tall.
Johnson mentioned that he sat on the bunk and ‘allowed the sunshine from the window to shine on [him].’
‘The state of Missouri simply made your worst fears actuality,’ he wrote.
‘They are going to actually kill you. Put you on show like a monkey within the zoo then run poison by means of your veins till your coronary heart stops.’
As he waited for the outcomes of his last-ditch attraction Johnson wrote: ‘I solely have 96 extra days to stay… actually!
‘For me to be spared the needle an lawyer must be appointed, full a full investigation that will embody finding witnesses, and if something, inaccurate is discovered they must file the mandatory paperwork.’
He goes on to query why the court docket had chosen him as the following to die.
Missouri had 19 individuals on loss of life row, a few of whom had been sentenced earlier than Johnson was even born, in line with division of corrections data.
‘I am solely 36 years previous, properly I might be 37 by the point I am truly strapped to the gurney,’ he wrote including that he felt ‘mounting frustration.’
‘I felt the necessity to launch my pent-up anger however not like July 5, 2005, I knew I didn’t need it misguided within the improper path.’
Hours earlier than the execution Johnson wrote that he had been afraid lots of his life.
‘However I feel that this second takes the cake. My whole day has been flooded with ideas of what that poison will really feel like as soon as it enters my physique. I don’t wish to die,’ he mentioned.
Johnson declined a final meal, fearing he would defecate when the deadly injection was administered.
Round 6:.40 p.m., the U.S. Supreme Court docket denied a keep of execution. Witnesses, together with Stanfield, had been escorted into viewing rooms.
Johnson laid on a gurney with Rev. Darryl Grey, who had baptized him, by his aspect within the execution room.
An execution group administered a deadly dose of pentobarbital and Johnson was pronounced lifeless at 7.40 pm.
Stanfield’s acquired Johnson’s final entry after his execution on Nov 30, as a result of jail correspondences are screened delaying supply.
‘Though my battle is over, the battle for this trigger is rarely dying. Proceed to face as much as racism. Proceed to alter the narrative,’ Johnson’s final sentences mentioned.
Johnson additionally selected to not make a closing assertion after refusing his final meal.
Grey learn from the Bible because the drug labored its manner by means of Johnson’s system and inside seconds Johnson ceased transferring, the New York Publish reported on the time.
Chatting with the publication, Grey mentioned that Johnson had accepted his destiny in his closing moments.
‘He apologized once more, he apologized to the sufferer’s household, he apologized to his household,’ Grey mentioned.
Although Grey, a number one St. Louis racial injustice activist, was current for Johnson’s final moments, the loss of life row inmate’s daughter, Corionsa Ramey, 19 was noticeably absent
Ramey, 19, had filed a petition to attend her father’s execution. She mentioned she was ‘near her father’ having witnessed her mom’s homicide age 4 Johnson her solely remaining guardian
Ramey expressed sorrow on the determination and appealed to the Missouri governor for clemency for her father who she constructed a relationship whereas he was in jail
A photograph offered by the ACLU exhibits Ramey (left), 19, introducing her new child son to her father Kevin Johnson (proper) in jail final month
Corionsa Ramey, 19, Johnson’s daughter filed a petition final week with the assistance of the ACLU arguing the Missouri regulation was a breach of her First and 14th Modification rights.
However a federal decide has disallowed Ramey from watching the execution of her father Kevin Johnson, 37, and mentioned that they don’t seem to be treating her ‘much less favorably than equally located individuals’.
Choose Brian C. Wimes mentioned within the judgement that states are capable of ‘discriminate on the premise of age’ with out offending the Fourteenth Modification if the age classification is ‘rational’.
Wimes reiterated the state’s preliminary response to her petition by which it mentioned it sought to stop ‘younger adults’ from ‘witnessing loss of life’ and feared that ‘younger adults could also be extra inclined to behave out in methods which can be disruptive to the proceedings’.
They mentioned that would lead to a safety menace in the course of the execution.
The decide additionally wrote within the order that he was not happy that she would have the ability to witness the execution with out it inflicting her ‘irreparable hurt’.
In an affidavit submitted to the court docket final Monday, Ramey cited the shut relationship she developed together with her father, who has been in jail since she was two.
She additionally mentioned that not solely did she lose her father to jail, she additionally witnessed the homicide of her mom simply two years later, aged solely 4.
Ramey expressed sorrow on the determination and appealed to the Missouri governor for clemency for her father.
‘I am heartbroken that I will not have the ability to be with my dad in his final moments,’ she mentioned in an ACLU press launch.
‘My dad is an important particular person in my life. He has been there for me my complete life, though he is been incarcerated. He is an effective father, the one guardian I’ve left. He has labored very arduous to rehabilitate himself in jail. I pray that Governor Parson will give my dad clemency.’
‘We’re extraordinarily upset within the determination upholding this irrational and illogical regulation, which solely serves to gratuitously punish Ms. Ramey,’ mentioned Corene Kendrick, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union Nationwide Jail Challenge.
‘Compounding her ache and grief by barring her from being together with her father will do nothing to offer closure or therapeutic to anybody else.
‘The State of Missouri can nonetheless do proper by Ms. Ramey if the Governor grants her father clemency. If 19 isn’t sufficiently old to witness an execution, then the state ought to spare Mr. Johnson’s life for what he did when he was 19,’ she added.
McEntee, a husband and father of three, was despatched to Johnson’s house on July 5, 2005, to serve a warrant for his arrest. Johnson was on probation for assaulting his girlfriend and police believed he had violated his probation.
Johnson noticed officers arrive and awoke his 12-year-old brother, Joseph ‘Bam Bam’ Lengthy, who ran subsequent door to their grandmother’s home.
At her home the boy suffered from a congenital coronary heart defect inflicting him to have a seizure and die shortly after in hospital.
The order denying Ramey entry was written by US district court docket decide Brian C. Wimes
Johnson’s attorneys filed appeals searching for to halt the execution. They did not problem Johnson’s responsible plea, however claimed that racism performed a job within the jury’s determination to execute him
Sparkle Haney, 41, a former correctional employee and good friend of Johnson mentioned Johnson’s closing moments had been hostile to his psychological well being and he ‘barely slept’
Johnson was the second man sentenced to loss of life in Missouri in 2022, however the first of three within the coming months
Johnson testified at trial that McEntee saved his mom from getting into the home to assist his dying brother.
Later that night in 2005, McEntee returned to the neighborhood in response to unrelated experiences of fireworks being fired. He then ran into Johnson.
Johnson pulled a gun and shot McEntee. He then approached the wounded, kneeling officer and shot him once more, killing him.
Sparkle Haney, 41, a former correctional employee and good friend of Johnson advised Dailymail.com that she believed that if ‘one officer had helped’ the incident could have ended otherwise.
‘[Johnson told me] nobody aided [his brother], they only stepped over him and he [Johnson] may see them stepping over his brother, whereas he was dying,’ she mentioned.
‘I feel that if one particular person stopped and simply checked out his brother or did one thing I feel that would have made a giant distinction.’
Haney additionally claimed that within the days main as much as his execution Johnson had advised her on a number of events that his execution was having an hostile have an effect on on his psychological well being.
‘I imply, it is consuming him up on the within,’ she advised Dailymail.com previous to the execution.
‘He is not sleeping as a result of he appears like if he sleeps then he is lacking out on the ultimate seconds and minutes and hours of his life.’
The 41-year-old was contacted by Dailymail.com however declined to remark following Johnson’s execution.
In the meantime, Johnson’s attorneys filed totally different appeals searching for to halt the execution.
A crowd of protesters collect outdoors the Missouri Governor’s Mansion to contest the state execution of Johnson
About 30 individuals gathered outdoors, chanting and holding indicators, together with a giant crimson banner that mentioned ‘Cease State Homicide’ as Capitol police stood on the mansion’s driveway gate
Missouri has seen an uptick in loss of life penalty charges, the very best variety of executions nonetheless recorded in 2015, by which 10 individuals died. Sixteen males have been executed within the US this 12 months
Though they do not problem that Johnson was responsible, they claimed that racism performed a job within the jury’s determination to present him the loss of life penalty, since McEntee was white.
Johnson’s attorneys additionally requested the courts to intervene for different causes, together with a historical past of psychological sickness and his age on the time of the killing, which was 19.
Courts have more and more stopped sentencing youngsters to loss of life because the Supreme Court docket in 2005 banned the execution of defendants who had been youthful than 18 on the time of their crime.
In a court docket submitting final week to the US Supreme Court docket, the Missouri Lawyer Common’s Workplace said there have been no grounds for court docket intervention.
‘The surviving victims of Johnson’s crimes have waited lengthy sufficient for justice, and every single day longer that they need to wait is a day they’re denied the possibility to lastly make peace with their loss,’ the state petition mentioned.
In response to the St Louis Publish Dispatch, forward of the execution, supporters of clemency for Johnson held protests in Jefferson Metropolis, Columbia, St. Louis, Kansas Metropolis and Bonne Terre.
About 30 individuals who gathered outdoors the Governor’s Mansion in Jefferson Metropolis chanted and held indicators, together with a giant crimson banner that mentioned ‘Cease State Homicide,’ as Capitol police stood on the mansion’s driveway gate.
In downtown St. Louis, a bunch of about 30 gathered Tuesday afternoon in entrance of the Civil Courts Constructing to protest.
And in Kansas Metropolis, about 30 individuals gathered on the intersection at thirty ninth and Troost to protest the execution.
In the meantime, outdoors of the jail in Bonne Terre, a crowd of greater than 50 individuals gathered to protest the execution.
Johnson was the second man sentenced to loss of life in Missouri in 2022, however the first of three within the coming months.
The state plans to execute convicted killers Scott McLaughlin on January 3 and Leonard Taylor on February 7.
Missouri has seen an uptick in loss of life penalty charges, the very best variety of executions nonetheless recorded in 2015, by which 10 individuals died.
Sixteen males have been executed within the US this 12 months.
