Ex-Richmond gang member says execution can be merciless and strange punishment | State and Regional Information

Johnson’s lawyers argued in their motion on Wednesday: “For seventeen years [the government] Have not executed or executed any death row inmate, including Mr. Johnson. The defendants cannot now credibly claim that their interests in finality or speedy executions would be seriously affected if Mr Johnson’s claims were fully litigated. “

Johnson, a member of the Newtowne drug gang who was responsible for at least 11 murders in Richmond over 45 days in 1992, was sentenced to death in 1993 along with two other gang members in the US District Court.

His attorneys have evidence that Johnson has had an intellectual disability since childhood and should not be executed in the light of a US Supreme Court ruling banning the execution of the mentally retarded. You asked Trump to grace Johnson.

Meanwhile, on December 14, Johnson began developing a cough, headache, runny nose, fatigue, and body aches. On December 18, he was notified that he had tested positive for the virus.

“Mr. Johnson’s medical reports show that his infection has already caused” significant lung damage “,” his attorneys wrote to the court on Wednesday.

“The medical research currently available shows that lung damage persists for at least two to three months after the initial infection with COVID-19, even if a patient has apparently recovered,” they told the court.