JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A judge sentenced Johnny Johnson to death back in 2005. Wednesday will mark 21 years since he killed 6-year-old Casey Williamson in Valley Park. Her killer is scheduled to be executed a week from Tuesday.
However, Missourians to abolish the death penalty plan to protest Tuesday at the State Capitol. They say Johnson’s case highlights the troubling flaws in the justice system’s treatment of people with mental illness. They also explained that Johnson struggled with developmental disabilities and severe mental illness all his life – but never received treatment despite trying to get it. Johnson has been on death row at the Potosí cOrrectional Center.
According to FOX 2’s recent in-depth report on the case: Casey and her family were staying at a friend’s house on Thursday, July 25, 2002. Johnson, described as a family acquaintance, also spent the night at that home.
Casey’s dad saw her with Johnson in the living room the next morning. He said he left the room for a few minutes and when he came back they were gone.
Johnson was found later, walking down the street, soaking wet. Casey’s body was discovered in a pit, less than a mile from her home.
Johnson confessed he used bricks and rocks to beat Casey after she fought back when he tried to sexually assault her. The Kansas City Star reported that Casey’s dad Ernie Williamson, does not want Johnson to be executed, according to a clemency application sent late last week to Governor Mike Parson.
Williamson said that executing Johnson will not bring closure “because it won’t bring Casey back.”
It’s unclear where the governor stands regarding this specific execution, but there have been three in Missouri so far and the governor denied clemency to each death row inmate.
The rally in Jefferson City in support of Johnson is set for noon. They’re asking the governor to commute Johnson’s sentence to life without the possibility of parole.