Missouri man facing scheduled execution for beating death of 6-year-old girl in 2002

By DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press

BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) — A man who abducted a 6-year-old girl and beat her to death is scheduled to be executed in Missouri, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an 11th-hour appeal for a stay. Tuesday’s planned execution of Johnny Johnson would mark the fourth of the year in Missouri. Johnson was convicted of killing Casey Williamson in July 2002 in St. Louis County. Court records show he had lured the girl to an abandoned factory where he had tried to sexually assault her, before killing her with a brick and a large rock. Johnson’s lawyers had contended he was incompetent to be executed because of schizophrenia. The Supreme Court rejected the attorneys’ request for a stay with three justices dissenting.