The life of Kevin Johnson, a 37-year-old Black male from St. Louis, Missouri, came to an end on the evening of November 29, 2022, when he was put to death by lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre. His death marked the conclusion of a legal saga spanning nearly two decades, stemming from the events of a sweltering summer day in July 2005. Johnson, who had spent his adult life on death row, was pronounced dead at 7:40 p.m., becoming the second inmate executed in Missouri that year.
The execution proceeded after the U.S. Supreme Court denied final requests for a stay, despite arguments from his legal team regarding potential racial bias in his prosecution and pleas from his 19-year-old daughter, Khorry Ramey, who was barred from witnessing the procedure due to state age restrictions.
The chain of events leading to Johnson's execution began on July 5, 2005, in the Meacham Park neighborhood of Kirkwood. On that afternoon, police officers arrived at the home where Johnson resided to serve a warrant for a probation violation. During the police visit, Johnson’s 12-year-old brother, Joseph 'Bam Bam' Long, collapsed from a congenital heart defect and subsequently died at a hospital. Johnson, then 19, watched the incident and blamed the police for his brother's death, believing they had interfered with efforts to get the boy medical help. Later that evening, Sgt. William McEntee, a 43-year-old White male veteran of the Kirkwood Police Department who had not been involved in the earlier raid, returned to the neighborhood to respond to an unrelated report of fireworks.
Witnesses detailed that Johnson approached McEntee’s patrol car and opened fire, striking the officer multiple times. After the wounded officer lost control of his vehicle and crashed, Johnson reportedly approached him again and fired the fatal shots. Following the shooting, Johnson was identified as the sole suspect and was arrested three days later. The initial trial for the capital murder charge resulted in a hung jury, but a second trial in 2007 ended with a conviction for first-degree murder and a sentence of death. Throughout his appeals, his defense highlighted his history of childhood trauma and argued that the decision to seek the death penalty was influenced by racial prejudice, a claim supported by a special prosecutor appointed to review the case shortly before the execution, though the courts ultimately declined to intervene.
