Supreme Court rebuffs death row inmate’s bid for execution by firing squad

The Supreme Court on Monday turned away a death row inmate’s bid to be executed by firing squad due to the risk that lethal injection might trigger an excruciating epileptic seizure.

The court’s three more liberal justices dissented from the court’s denial of Missouri death row inmate Ernest Johnson’s petition.

Johnson, who suffers from epilepsy, sought an alternative execution method in order to avoid lethal injection involving the drug pentobarbital, which is known to trigger seizures.

The court’s Monday denial of his request, which came in an unsigned order, prompted a forceful dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor that was joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan.

“Missouri is now free to execute Johnson in a manner that, at this stage of the litigation, we must assume will be akin to torture given his unique medical condition,” Sotomayor wrote.

She added that the Eighth Amendment’s “chief concern for preventing cruel and unusual punishment” had been “sacrificed” in the interest of judicial efficiency.

Johnson received a death sentence for the 1994 killing of three convenience store workers in Missouri.

He appealed to the justices after a lower federal court denied his request for a firing squad on the grounds that he should have requested the alternative execution method at an earlier stage of litigation.

Johnson’s medical condition came about after undergoing brain surgery in 2008 to remove a tumor. Doctors were unable to remove the tumor and the surgery left scarring and a lasting brain defect.

“The tumor cells, scar tissue, and brain defect have together caused Johnson to suffer from epilepsy, which produces violent, uncontrollable, and painful seizures,” Sotomayor wrote, adding, “Because this Court chooses to stand idly by, I respectfully dissent.”

Updated at 10:47 a.m.