The Shadow of the Silo: Inside the Haunting Case of Johnny Johnson and the Tragedy of Casey Williamson
In the quiet, working-class neighborhoods of St. Louis County, the name Casey Williamson still carries a weight of profound sorrow. She was six years old—a child of dimples, “moments,” and a love for catching frogs to show her grandmother. On July 26, 2002, that light was extinguished in a crime of such singular brutality that it fundamentally altered the lives of everyone it touched and forced a community to confront the darkest corners of the human psyche.
The case of Johnny Johnson is not just a story of a murder; it is a complex tapestry of systemic failure, the limits of the mental health system, and a legal battle over the nature of justice, responsibility, and the ultimate penalty. It is a story that began with a missing child and ended with a man’s life hanging in the balance of a Supreme Court appeal.
The Morning the World Stopped
The nightmare began early on that July morning. Johnny Johnson, then 24 years old, had been a family friend, a man who had spent hours playing with the neighborhood children and whose nieces and nephews were close to the Williamson family. He had been staying on a couch at the home of Casey’s mother, Angie, for a few days.
When Casey’s father, Ernie, emerged from the shower, the house was quiet. Casey was gone. His initial thought—the hopeful thought of a parent—was that she had simply run across the street to her grandfather’s house. But as the minutes ticked by and the search expanded, the reality set in. Within thirty minutes, the police were involved. Within hours, the community of Valley Park was transformed into a landscape of search parties, helicopters, and mounting dread.
The media, as Casey’s aunt Debbie recalled, became a double-edged sword. While it broadcasted Casey’s face to every screen in the region, it also fueled a frenzy of speculation and aggression. Signs reading “Kill Johnny” began to appear along the highways even before the full extent of the tragedy was known.
The Glass Factory Ruins
The search ended at the ruins of an old glass factory, a place locals called “the silo.” It was here that Johnny Johnson led Casey, claiming they were going to “hang out.” What followed was a sequence of events so horrifying that it tested the resolve of even the most hardened investigators.
According to Johnson’s own confession, he had lured the girl to the secluded spot with the intent to assault her. When she “freaked out,” screaming for help and apologizing for things she hadn’t done, Johnson panicked. He picked up a brick and a rock, ending the life of the six-year-old who had trusted him enough to take a piggyback ride just minutes before. He then buried her under a pile of rocks in a desperate attempt to conceal what he had done.
The forensic evidence was indisputable. Johnson was seen returning from the river, soaking wet, where he had gone to wash Casey’s blood from his body. His confession, though later a subject of intense legal scrutiny, provided a chilling roadmap of the crime’s premeditation.
A Mind in Pieces: The Schizophrenia Defense
As the legal proceedings began, a different narrative emerged from the defense. Johnny Johnson was not a “monster” in the traditional sense, his attorneys argued, but a man profoundly broken by a severe mental illness. Johnson had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression long before the murder. He described a world of “voices” and “shadows,” a terrifying internal landscape where he felt as if he were being “eaten alive” by bugs crawling under his skin.
The defense strategy was not to deny that Johnson had killed Casey—the evidence made that impossible—but to argue that his illness prevented him from “cooly reflecting” on his actions, a requirement for first-degree murder in Missouri. They presented the story of a man who had fallen through the cracks. Shortly before the murder, Johnson had been dropped from the roles of a mental health agency. He had stopped taking his medication, which often left him feeling robotic or docile, and had begun self-medicating with illicit drugs.
“His brain just does not work correctly,” argued Bob Lunt, an assistant public defender. The legal team sought to humanize Johnson, showing the jury his childhood drawings and testimony from family members who remembered him as a sweet, caring boy who thought he was a superhero.
The Battle of the Experts
The trial became a “battle of the experts.” Prosecutors countered the defense’s claims with their own psychiatrists, who argued that Johnson’s actions—the luring of the child, the choice of a secluded location, the cleaning of evidence, and the initial pretense of innocence—all pointed to a man who knew exactly what he was doing and that it was wrong.
For the jury, the distinction between “sick” and “evil” was a difficult one to draw. In St. Louis County, no jury since the late 1950s had found a defendant not guilty by reason of insanity. The public’s fear of mental illness, combined with the visceral horror of the crime, created a high bar for the defense.
Angie Williamson, Casey’s mother, made a decision that many found incomprehensible. She chose to view the autopsy photos herself before they were shown to the jury. She did this, she said, to ensure the jurors remembered that the images were not just evidence, but her “baby.” She refused to let the court disconnect the horror of the act from the humanity of the victim.
The Ultimate Penalty
The jury reached its verdict quickly: guilty of first-degree murder. The subsequent penalty phase was equally harrowing. For the death penalty to be applied, the prosecution had to prove “aggravating factors.” In this case, the age of the victim and the nature of the crime—kidnapping and attempted rape—provided more than enough justification under the law.
The decision to sentence someone to death is never easy, and jurors are described as being “emotionally drained” by the process. Yet, they concluded that the death penalty was the only suitable punishment for a crime of this magnitude. One juror reflected that if this case didn’t deserve the maximum penalty, nothing did.
For Johnson’s family, the sentence was a second tragedy. His brother stood up in the courtroom, calling the jurors and the state “murderers,” asking how they were any different for taking a life.
Two Decades of Reflection
In the years following the trial, the debate over Johnny Johnson’s fate has never truly cooled. His legal team has continued to file appeals, arguing that his execution would be a violation of the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment for the mentally disabled. They compare his condition to mental retardation, an area where the law has already drawn a line.
On the other side, the family and the prosecution remain steadfast. For them, the death penalty is not about vengeance, but about the gravity of the life taken. “You can’t do something like that and expect to just get off with a lesser punishment,” one observer noted.
However, the case has also shed light on the dismantling of the mental health system in America. Many, including former Director of Corrections George Lombardi, point to the lack of funding and resources for prevention and treatment as a primary reason why individuals like Johnson end up in the criminal justice system rather than a mental health facility.
Legacy of a “Walk to Remember”
In the face of unimaginable loss, the Williamson family has fought to keep Casey’s memory focused on the positive. They started a memorial walk, which eventually evolved into a safety fair designed to prevent similar tragedies. They raised money to provide scholarships for Casey’s graduating class in 2014, ensuring that her impact was felt even twelve years after her death.
“Every life, even cases of a short six years, has an impact,” Angie told the graduates.
As the legal clock continues to tick toward a final resolution, the case of Johnny Johnson stands as a stark reminder of the complexities of human behavior and the limitations of a justice system tasked with weighing the worth of a life. Whether society chooses to view Johnson as a “rabid dog” that must be put down or a “tragic figure” of a broken system, the dimples of Casey Williamson remain a permanent fixture in the collective memory of a community that refuses to forget her.
>> Yes. >> Okay.
Can you explain what her physical actions were when you mean by freaking out? She kept on, she was saying she was sorry and just started screaming for help and and then I panic out because I see her panicking out and I pick up a brick and I throw it at her. [music] >> Before you right now lies the body of a precious little girl. Casey. Casey.
Casey. Say one. >> Look. One. >> Are you going to be one today? Is you one? >> The man police say confessed to the crime. 24y old Johnny Johnson made his first appearance in court yesterday where he did not enter a plea. He has been charged with murder, armed criminal action, kidnapping, and attempted forcible rape.
Say, “Happy Easter, Angela.” >> Happy Easter to you. >> How about me? Did he bring a cigarette? >> How about your >> Casey? Did the Easter Bunny come? >> He did. >> I put the website together pretty quickly after we lost her. mainly just because I wanted there to be a place where we could, you know, remember her.
Um, there is no mention of what happened to her on the website. It’s just for her because like I said, I don’t want her to be remembered just for the terrible thing that happened to her because she was such a cool little kid. That’s why I put there’s a picture on there that I put one of her smiling real big and I put Casey is happy.
And then I put one when she was like having a little pouting fit and said Casey not so happy because just like every little kid she had her moments. So, just these are some of the pictures that we have of us growing up. It’s Kristen and Chelsea because they were close in age and then it’s, you know, me and Casey.
And then just like with Christmas, obviously we’re doing a silly picture and I took it way to another level. And then this this picture I have mixed feelings about because that’s the picture that the news had all over the place. I think we’ll go down to Leonard Park where there is a memorial bench for Casey that the city put in.
And when we used to do the memorial walk, we always used to end our walk there. There’s a little plaque over here. I thought it was really nice of the city to do this. Like I said, everybody was impacted. So, this is just a little side story, but this is actually the second bench because it had to be replaced because the first one had like just little circles in it, which is really cute.
It kind of looked like polka dots except for a little girl that actually was a friend of Chelsea’s, I think, got her finger stuck in it and they had to cut the bench off of her finger. So, they had to get a new bench. So, this is actually the second purple bench for Casey here. Chelsea’s Casey’s sister and she was 11 when Casey died and her and her friend had come over here to the park the day before.
Johnny Johnson followed them over here and it kind of freaked her out and so they went home and they told the friend’s mom and she said, “Well, you girls just stay away from him.” And uh they did, but she didn’t tell Angie. And Chelsea blamed herself for that the whole rest of her life because she said that if she had told her mom, you know, that she would have kept him away.
So that was just something she carried with her. Going back to earlier this morning, where were you at, let’s say, 6:00 a.m. >> laying on the couch? And were you living there with him? >> I was staying there for a couple of days. >> And how many days have you been staying there? >> Three. >> So you’ve been sleeping there at night. You’re not really living there.
You’re just laying your head at night sleeping. >> Yes. >> So this was my brother’s house. This is where Angie was staying with the kids because her and Ernie were not technically together. They were kind of working things out. And then that’s the house where they were staying. Casey was crying for her dad, so they stayed over there that night.
And then so that’s why when Ernie got up in the morning and Casey got up with him when he came out of the shower and he couldn’t find Casey, his original thought was she ran over to Grandpa’s. She’s going to be in trouble cuz she crossed the street by herself. But then he went over there to my brother’s house and she wasn’t there.
So then they immediately started looking and had called the police within a half an hour. >> And you walk from the house down Benton and then you make a left turn on the first street. >> Yeah. >> And then you come to an alleyway. >> Yeah. >> And then we started walking down the alleyway and then she started complaining cuz her feet hurt because she had no shoes on.
>> Okay. Then what happened? And I asked her if she wanted a piggyback ride and she said yes. >> I remember getting a phone call. I think it was from my sister Debbie telling me that they couldn’t find Casey. I remember calling my husband at work and he just had to run out of work. He works right over in Fenton.
And he just told him, “I I got to go. I can’t understand a word she’s saying except for that Casey’s missing.” And um I remember I felt like really panicked because there are so many places that she could have been. And but I mean the police were going door to door. They were searching people’s houses. The people had pulled together and were forming search parties and we’re going through the woods.
>> I I have a very clear recollection of first learning about Johnny’s case. I think I had worked several hours on a case and so I was taking some time off to get caught up at home and I had the news on and you know as soon as I came home and I turned on the news there was the story of the missing girl and Valley Park and it was just all day.
The news feed on this was all day and I couldn’t look away. The media was there and it’s we we kind of all learned that day that the media can either be your best friend or they can not be because at that point they were our best friend. They were putting her picture out there. They were putting her name out there.
They were saying if you know anything, please call. >> Yeah. I remember um hearing that uh a little girl was missing in Valley Park and uh around lunchtime getting ready to go to lunch and hearing helicopters seeing them fly over the area. On the way to lunch, uh we drove through Valley Park and there was somebody a man walking on the side of 141 who the police seemingly came out of nowhere and pulled over and tackled this guy cuz they were just trying to find anybody who knew anything about what was going on. He took her off into the this wooded
areas, an old abandoned factory that was there where he did what he was going to do and then killed her and then buried her in this pit with all the rocks around her. >> Now you buried the bottom. >> Yes. >> What do you do? >> I leave the silo. >> Okay. >> And then I make a left out of there. I keep going the same way that we came whenever we went in there.
But soon as I got out of the glass factory over the wall, I made the left and started walking down the trail towards the river. >> Okay. Do you know that trail head to the river? >> Yes. And went down the boat ramp and took my shirt off and took my wallet out and to clean off the blood that I had on my leg. then walked down to a nearby river and, you know, cleaned all the blood off of him and washed himself up and then walked back up to the house.
Now, everybody was [music] searching all over for this little girl and acted like he had no idea what anybody was doing. >> It wasn’t long after I got down there that Johnny Johnson came walking back up the street soaking wet from the river. And I guess he thought he could just get back before anybody realized it was gone. I don’t know.
Truthfully, they were I remember them whisking him away from there because there were a lot of people who wanted to get their hands on him because they were pretty sure that he had done something to her. So, they whisked him out of there. I was um at work and my oldest son called and told me that they were holding Johnny and they told he told me that they couldn’t find Casey and they thought Johnny had something to do with it.
>> I can remember when I heard what happened I fell. I cried. I said, “I can’t believe it. I There’s no way I can believe this. He spent so many hours with my sons and my brother’s daughters, his nieces, and never never in a million years. Angie was my best friend in 8th grade. I have known them since we were young.
Um, my boys used to go over and play with their kids. Um, my nickname for Casey was Dimple Lala cuz she had one dimple. >> Well, I got a call, too. And, uh, I could not believe it. I could not believe it at all. And then they, you know, we found out that they had found John and they kept him in there until I think basically he confessed and they kept him in there along.
And then I think later that day they were reporting that they had statements from the suspect. And I think even before the end of the news cycle that day, uh I had heard information indicating that the person that they had in custody, who turned out to be Johnny, um had had a history of mental health issues. They were in such a hurry to announce that they had found her body that they announced it before the family was formally notified.
And so many people in the family, including her own sister, found out about it on the TV cuz they showed the image of them bringing her out, which we all could have done without. >> Everything in the media was he basically he was guilty. You know, it was switched around. It was You’re supposed to be innocent before proven guilty.
The media already had it set no no. Yeah, I know. If he would not have said that, [music] you know, on live TV, it would have been a little bit easier on us. a little bit easier on us, but he said it on [music] live TV and it was devastating. >> Oh, everything was devastating. It was hard going back to work. I remember [music] I was even thinking about quitting my job.
I thought about never leaving the house again. In fact, there were signs [music] um coming down 44 up into Eureka that my mom had to see every day that said [music] kill Johnny that someone had put up. just the aggression, the hatred, and not knowing this young man by any means to come [music] out and just say hateful things about him and to never know him.
And it makes me as a person [music] look at the media so differently. And I think that sensationalism drives the prosecutor to go further. There were some people who when we contacted did have very strong reactions. Um, as a matter of fact, one of the nurses said, “Call me uh when they’re ready to, you know, put the needle in. I’ll do that.
If you need if you need me to help, that’s what I’m willing to do.” Honestly, when it first happened, um, when I first heard the news, I said I hate him, which I don’t. I love him. Someone took me aside and talked to me and said, “Look, there was someone in my family that made a mistake that was mentally ill and we had to forgive them.
” [music] And you have to think right now, everybody in the world is hating him. So [music] sit down and write him a letter and send it to him cuz you’re going to be the only [music] one that’s going to reach out to him right now. Your mom is probably in too much shock to even think about it.
This lady actually sat there with me [music] and wrote the letter and helped me mail it off. Overall, I’ve been trying capital cases since 1994. So, I was in a phone conference yesterday with a judge and a prosecutor and um the judge was talking about the fact that he had not tried a capital case ever. And the prosecutor, I think, has maybe tried one or two.
And I was sitting there mentally calculating, well, I think I’ve tried 27 or 28 of them. Um, and that’s not talking about all the other homicide cases that I’ve tried. I’m just talking about full-on capital cases with the death qualified jury and a penalty phase. Yeah, it’s a lot. I didn’t know that it was going to come to me, but I knew it was going to come to our office, and it did.
We knew the prosecutor was going to seek death on it, and based on case load numbers, I would be one of the attorneys assigned to it. And I was >> Beth and I were were teamed up and I remember meeting Johnny and just thinking how pitiful he was, how he he was not this monster that had been depicted in the stories of the case. Um that he was just this scared, small, clearly mentally ill person.
And some visits with Johnny were better than others because sometimes Johnny’s schizophrenia, because that’s what he has, um would be in full swing. And then other times the symptoms of his schizophrenia would be more withdrawn. And so those were some more productive meetings with him. I think very early on though, we realized this wasn’t a case that we could claim he didn’t kill Casey.
That was pretty evident by all of the evidence and and Johnny never tried to say anything other than that. >> He was charged with murder in the first degree. It was one where I went through the whole process and made the determination that this was a case where the aggravating circumstances exist. You know, he committed other felonies, kidnapping, the attempted rape, this excessive violence involved in this case.
>> The plea always remained not guilty. Um, it was not guilty of murder first, conceding that Johnny did this, Johnny killed Casey, but that he wasn’t cooly reflecting on the matter, which is what the law requires for a murder first degree. That was our strategy. >> Well, theoretically, anybody can plead not guilty by reason of uh insanity or mental defect, but it almost never works.
I mean, it’s very very rare that that it works. >> If we had had a doctor say that he was not guilty by reason of insanity, uh and we didn’t have a doctor to say that. Um, and if a jury would have agreed with that, which would have been a huge battle, um, St. Louis County juries notoriously reject NGRI defenses, but the best outcome for Johnny would be that he needed to be in a mental hospital.
>> I think people don’t understand mental illness. They’re scared of it. They shy away from it. They have some pretty medieval notions about it. even if they do understand what they hear in terms of how the legal system works is that this person can be released at any point and that terrifies them.
And usually these crimes are horrific enough that they want this person locked up forever and they want a guarantee of that. >> In in St. Louis County, no jury since the very late 50s has ever found an individual not guilty by reason of insanity. It just has not happened. argued that this was certainly a homicide that he was responsible for, but that this was not first-degree murder, but that in fact it was seconddegree murder.
So, the question really became was there was just no dispute that he had mental illness. Even the prosecutors essentially conceded that. Um, so the question was what what role did that mental illness play in the events of of killing Casey? >> We were never trying to send a message that what happened to Casey wasn’t, you know, anything other than what it was.
It was horrifying and Johnny was horrified by it. Once Johnny realized what had happened and you know he was as horrified by himself as anybody was horrified by him. We had doctors look at him. We gathered as many records as we could find to sort of put together the pieces of Johnny’s life.
And ultimately that his mental illness, his schizophrenia essentially prevented him from cooly reflecting on his conduct. that he was just not somebody who thought through conduct cooly reflected on anything in his life. >> I think that the primary purpose of the psychiatric information testimony was to to avoid a death sentence in the case.
>> The day my mom brought him home, I told her she brought the wrong child home at 5 years old. I didn’t understand that uh you didn’t have a choice of a boy or a girl. Uh but when uh I held him, I fell in love with him instantly. We did a lot of skateboarding together. I used to pose him and I love photography when I was younger and I used to pose him, dress him up and give him skateboards and different things in the yard, props.
So, we spent a lot of time together. Uh, remember a lot of times he thought he was the Incredible Hulk. Um, one time I can remember he jumped off the concrete steps and landed on his head and pretty traumatic experience. Uh, my mom had to rush him to the ER. I mean, I guess I was about 8 years old, so I didn’t quite understand the severity of it.
Um, he’d done this quite a few times in his life and he thought he was a superhero and didn’t work out too well. He had imaginary friends when he was little. Their names were Eric Rock, Katy Rock, Bob Rock. It was his brothers and sisters. He he would make sure that we had room for them in the car. He was very sweet, very caring about other people.
The teacher said that he would take up for her in class. It was a classroom with kids with special needs and she would always talk about, you know, if she had a problem with a fellow student, Johnny would always take up for her and say, you know, you’re giving her a hard time. So he did start doing some uh cutting.
He was selfmutilating at times. He would cut his arms and he would just say he would come to me and he’d say, “I cut myself again and I don’t know why I’m doing it. I can’t seem to control myself.” What struck me about the case and what I wrote about was that Johnny Johnson had been diagnosed with depression and then uh schizophrenia and had been sent to an agency that deals with uh people with mental health issues.
And shortly before the murder, they dropped Johnny Johnson from the roles. And I remember thinking, you know, when it came up, when the murder came up and found out that background, well, how odd that is. >> I worked for a mental health uh case management agency, which is contracted by the Department of Mental Health and Department of Corrections.
Johnny was my youngest when I met him. Um he had just been released from prison for um I think stealing a lawnmower or something. The contract with the department of corrections was for me to see him three times a week. We had a great relationship meeting with him. He was abiding by everything. And then uh after a while he would not show up as at his appointed places.
I went to his grandmother’s home. Grandmother said he wasn’t there. I had his girlfriend’s number. Girlfriend said um he was sick, was not feeling well. Just excuses. And then there was silence. I couldn’t find him. Knowing what I had known about uh his possibly drinking with his medications and his possibly not taking his medications, I wrote a letter to his home and sent the letter also to the probation officer.
>> He didn’t want to go. Then they would make him take his medication and he would say he didn’t like the way it made him feel. >> That’s very common with people with mental illness. The side effects of antiscychotic medication are terrible and um many people choose to medicate themselves on the street and not take the prescribed meds or they get a little bit better and they think that you know their issues are resolved and they go off their meds.
Um and that was clearly the case with Johnny. The reason why I wrote the letter was to trigger the Department of Corrections or Department of Mental Health to find him and bring him back into the fold. And I was sure the Department of Corrections uh probation officer would see that letter and definitely say, “Uh-uh.” They put an APB out, go pick him up wherever you see him and bring him back.
I sent the letter because I needed to make everybody aware that I can’t find him. I haven’t seen him and therefore I’m not providing care. >> So they dropped Johnny Johnson at the end of June as I remember and uh [music] the murder was in July. >> It was July. I was having surgery. I was in the hospital and there was this news uh story about a young girl going missing and [music] I remember laying in the bed in the hospital and there was Johnny Johnson on the news. his face.
My heart dropped and uh I called my office uh talked to my supervisor and I checked my messages uh then [music] and the probation officer had left her first message about the letter I sent saying, “Hey, this is so and so. I’m calling about the letter you sent. Forensic psychiatrists like myself are often hired by either the defense uh or prosecution meaning the state jurors for the most part uh find it I think difficult to follow medical testimony.
I think the in my opinion the more scientific we become in psychiatry the harder it has become to digest it. Uh because what what has happened is we still lack um a litmus test, a laboratory test, a blood test, an X-ray that we can hold up or show on paper that someone has XYZ mental illness. And so those are very difficult and especially when the person has a history of drug and alcohol use.
He could have been just high. And if they hear that kind of evidence or they start to think that, that’s a real nail in the coffin. Jurors don’t want to be hoodwinkedked by someone who’s claiming mental illness. One thing about psychiatry and the law is that it’s not a good fit for the legal system which likes to have you find things beyond a reasonable doubt because in in psychiatry it’s so subjective so many times because for instance if you have cancer uh you can open up the body and there are the cancer cells there’s the tumor right
there. So you can say beyond a reasonable doubt this guy has cancer. If you have a broken leg and the bone is sticking out of your thigh, then beyond a reasonable doubt that guy has a broken leg. In the law, you start the presumption that every person uh is sane and the burden becomes on the defense uh to convince the jury that the person had a mental disease.
And it’s it’s not like you can do an X-ray and say here’s the broken bone. And that becomes very difficult for jurors to understand, especially when um the jury pool today might be somewhat sterile to these issues. They might not have ever encountered uh someone who’s mentally ill. They may not have a family member who’s mentally ill.
>> Yeah. A lot of the public don’t have mental illness, you know, in their families. You know, that’s that’s a shame. if if they would try to raise a mental ill person for 6 months [music] in their house, they could understand maybe, >> you know, when Beth and I would meet with Johnny and he would sometimes describe these hallucinations which were clearly real to him.
Um, and yet even our listening to it, they, you know, a skeptic would think he was making them up even when he had no reason to make them up. >> Uh, he he said he was hearing voices. He didn’t know how to explain it. So, he drew that picture to show to try to show what it feels like because he he said it felt like bugs was crawling underneath his skin and and and and in his brain.
And I thought the picture was pretty telling. >> John drew this. Okay, cool. It’s a feeling >> feeling of being eaten alive. Being eaten alive voices >> hurt yourself. >> Voices hurt yourself. >> Vision shadows. >> Vision shadows. Then visions >> that he has these kind of feelings. I can’t I can’t even imagine what that thought process is.
I think, you know, the old movie theater version of the schizophrenic as a, you know, raving maniac who talks to themselves all the time and rips off their clothes, uh, or attacks people in the streets. Um, I think that’s what people think it looks like, and it very, very, very rarely looks like that.
The jury wants to see somebody who’s been talking to themselves and not making sense and snapping their heads around to look at uh hallucinations because short of that they’re not convinced or they don’t believe. >> The demeanor or what we call in psychiatry the affect of the defendant is all important. their behavior. The jury is constantly watching uh the the defendant.
Um they’re looking for all sorts of things, including in a murder case if the person shows any remorse. And the medications that are often used to get that person competent so that they can then stand trial will blunt that affect. They blunt that emotional response. It’s a side effect of those medicines. In fact, pre-trial we were so concerned because he was moving between facilities and anytime that happens, you’re going to see adjustments in medications and um I mean he was so docel to the point of almost not being able to stay awake. Some of the I think
just right before the trial um we had some really serious concerns about whether he was competent because he was so medicated that um he was just almost robotic. a case that I was involved in um is a is a stark reminder of that where a lady um who was severely psychotic that killed her husband. Uh I was getting ready to go in and testify and there happened to be a judge that was standing there uh outside with me watching.
He was in a different uh courtroom and he said uh to me he said if you get a chance will you please tell um the uh client’s attorney to take the pen away from her client because her client is sitting there taking notes. She doesn’t look quote unquote crazy. So appearance is extremely important and this judge recognized that.
It wasn’t even anything that I I picked up on because here I’m armed with this knowledge that this is in my opinion a very psychotic woman who did a psychotic act but the jury is sitting watching her taking notes which to the jury suggests she’s not mentally ill cuz she can take notes. And I think the thing that I also learned in working on Johnny’s case more than any other case, um, and I’ve seen it since then, is that we could find a medication that can help with some of the symptoms of schizophrenia, like keeping the hallucinations at bay or keeping the
voices at bay, but then the effectiveness that of that medication will wear off. And so then they’re kind of back to square one at finding what will work for Johnny or what will work for anybody that’s presenting with, you know, as many symptoms as Johnny presents with. I think he was medicated almost immediately.
Um, which was a big argument we made in the trial. I mean, the the prosecutor and the the psychiatrist who testified for the government wanted to claim that his hallucinations were the result of of drug abuse. And yet, he continued to hear voices while he was confined and was receiving um antiscychotic medication for that very problem.
I mean, the the evidence that he did it was overwhelming. There just there just wasn’t any question about that. There’s no doubt about it. Reasonable or otherwise, there’s no doubt about what he did. Question was, how is he going to be punished for this? Is it going to be death? Is it going to be life without parole? You know, these are not easy decisions and they’re not meant to be.
They’re meant to be incredibly difficult decisions. The whole system is designed that way. And that’s I think we end up with cases that you know, somebody’s sentenced to death around here. They they justly deserve it. >> I mean, some of it made no sense to me. You take a little girl in her night gown and you walk down the main street in Valley Park.
Um, and they use that to So, he knew it was deliberate conduct. To me, it was kind of crazy conduct. Um, and then the repeated blows to her head and then the concealing of her body, covering her under rocks. And then Johnny went to the river and washed her blood off of him and came back to the house and, you know, at least for a very short time, pretended that nothing had happened.
And prosecutors very effectively use that kind of conduct, deliberative conduct, um efforts to conceal to show that the person knew right from wrong. Um and that their conduct wasn’t just crazy, that it was deliberative, >> you know, whether it’s a a physical or organic problem, you know, in their head, you know, a tumor, whether it’s a mental, there’s a problem there.
But you have to look beyond that. Does that problem that he have make him not responsible for what he did? That’s the real question in the case. Yes, there’s something wrong with him. >> Don’t you think that anybody that could take a six-year-old to a pit and try to do disgusting things to her and then kill her? How could anybody who’s capable of doing that not have some kind of mental problem? So, I just I just always said you would have to have some kind of mental problem to do something like that because most people could never be capable of that. I
just feel like there are certain people who we just don’t need here on Earth anymore because I still honestly really believe that you’re either capable of doing something like that or or you’re not. It’s either in there or it’s not in there. >> Come here. Come here. I guess you can sit around and we can talk about good versus evil and the philosophical difference and all that, but we deal with the realities for the most part.
The reality is this. Once somebody picks up a gun and goes in and robs a gas station and kills the clerk, I don’t particularly care why they did it. You know, once you pick up a gun and go rob somebody, I don’t care what kind of a childhood you had. I don’t care how badly your mother treated you. the mar. >> The very first uh case that was called uh my number came up.
So went up to the courtroom and walked in and uh Bob McCulla, you know, gave us some an introduction of what to expect, what was going to happen. and they announced the case and I immediately knew I recognized the the girl’s name. Yeah, it was quite a shock. >> It’s a tough decision to make and that’s pounded into the jury that said this is going to be a tough decision.
Even if you think this guy should be executed for this, it’s still going to be difficult to make that decision. And so, uh, jurors agonize over these decisions and they weigh that carefully. They don’t just go back and say, “I forget it. This guy deserves it. this is what he did. Give him death. They agonize over these decisions.
>> We had a really interesting thing happen. We were contacted by a particular juror after the case and Bevy and I went and met with him and he talked about why, you know, he found the verdict the way he did. He talked about the fact that the jury really didn’t like the what I call the battle of the experts.
They didn’t like that battling back and forth. Um he talked about the fact that they they believed that Johnny had schizophrenia, but there was no consensus among the jury as whether it was the schizophrenia or whether Johnny was, you know, making a rational decision. Now, I once had a judge uh remind me in chambers, it’s government of the people, by the people, and for the people that it’s not government of the judge or government of the doctor.
It’s not the doctor that’s going to decide. It’s not the judge. It’s going to be the people. uh and the people have decided in these cases that despite a mental illness, [music] the person should be punished for what they did. And so the people decide uh despite what the doctor may think. Well, they tried to say that he was hearing voices, but that was offset by the prosecution’s expert witnesses that said that they they believed that he [music] was making that up.
And also, you know, the thought was, well, he’d been pres prescribed antiscychotics, but he opted to not take that medication and do meth instead. Then this [music] situation arose and he did what he did, >> you know, and the aggravating factors which, you know, would have been the the way he murdered Cassandra and the fact that Cassandra was a child, you know, outweigh I mean, the jury, they’re they’re normal people.
They’re capable of feeling outrage and something like this. and and you know and the victim’s family is there in the courtroom and it’s easy to see why jurors would do it. >> Well, it came the time when they were going to show the jury crime scene photos and the victim’s advocate said, “I don’t really want any of you guys to go in for that.
” And I have to say that’s one of the moments in my life when I was so proud of Angie because Angie said, “No, I’m going to be in there.” And she said, “Well, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” And she goes, “Well, I’m going to be in there because I need for those people on that jury to remember that those pictures that they’re looking at are my baby because what they were going to see was so devastating.
You almost would have to disconnect yourself to what you’re looking at.” And she wasn’t going to allow that to happen. So, she said, “No, I’m going to be in there.” So they said, “Well, if you’re going to be in there, then we have to prepare you for that.” So they took her in this room and they showed her the pictures and all you could hear was Angie crying and wretching in the trash can.
And she came out when she finally collected herself and she said to us, “None of you are ever going to see [music] those pictures cuz I don’t ever want you to carry that [music] in your mind.” but I can’t do anything for Casey anymore, but I can do this. I can make sure that they remember that she was a real little girl. And so she went in there.
>> She was born on Thanksgiving. >> I know. That’s what I’m saying. That was quite a day, wasn’t it? >> Yeah, she was born on Thanksgiving Day. I fixed a big dinner, such told us all sit down. I was headed to the hospital. >> Yep. And we all ate and gave thanks for a new baby. So Thanksgiving, we always think of Casey.
And she was a little booger, wasn’t she, Mom? She >> Yeah, she was my charm. >> Yep. She uh you saw >> with a little frog in her hand. >> Brought frogs. >> Brought frogs into >> Grandma, can I keep this? I said, “Uh, I think it’d rather be outside.” >> Yeah. >> But it stuck around. >> Yeah.
She wanted to bring him into the kitchen. >> We still remember her. We still cherish her. She’ll always be in our life. >> Yep. And she deserves that. She doesn’t deserve to just be remembered for that little girl that something horrible happened to. She needs to be remembered for bringing frogs into the kitchen and for, you know, having her little moments once in a while.
And in the guilt phase, when when the jury was given the case to decide, um, it was pretty pretty quick. We did ask for >> the audio tapes of the confession which uh they supplied to us. So we replayed them a couple of times. >> Uh but that really wasn’t to determine guilt. It was just making sure everybody was on the same page as far as the first degree murder.
>> He planned it out. If he had a mental disease, he still knew what he was doing and and did it. He knew enough to take the little girl, be quiet, leaving the house. So, that’s an indication he knew it was wrong. That he got out of sight as quickly as he could by the first chance he got, ducking off the street around a corner and then down an alley and then took her to an incredibly secluded place.
And then he he buried her after he killed her, which again indicates, and it’s a pretty good indication that he knew that something was wrong. and then went down and did his very best to, you know, to clean any evidence off of him and Chris. So, it was pretty clear he knew exactly what he was doing. Not to say he didn’t have some issues, but he knew what he was doing. He knew it was wrong.
I mean, to me, the the mental illness part um and his upbringing and everything else that was brought by the defense really kind of flew out the window when he admitted that he did all of these things and he admitted that he planned it and according to the law, you’re guilty when you do that. I’ve never seen a psychiatrist, let me put it this way, who’s been able to back up a claim that absolutely, positively, 100% this individual suffers from schizophrenia, for example, and that that schizophrenia absolutely, positively, 100% prevented him from
understanding that what he did was wrong. It’s usually pretty easy to shoot them down in court because you can you can just walk through all the all the details that show that mind working and it becomes harder and harder for them to be believable when they’re saying the person didn’t understand the nature and consequences of what they’re doing.
>> I think the the the lack of success of a psychiatric defense is due in in great part to the to the inability of the psychiatric profession to to say yes, this is it. This is irrefutable evidence that this guy didn’t know what he was doing or didn’t know and appreciate it. If you can’t pick apart a psychiatric report, you know, then then you’re not that much of a lawyer.
>> All right. Has the jury reached a verdict? Yes, we have. >> All right. Mr. Wither, would you please obtain the verdict of the jury from uh juror number 12? As to count one, we the jury find the defendant Johnny A. Johnson guilty of murder in the first degree as submitted in instruction number nine. >> The outcome of the trial was that um Johnny was found guilty of the killing of Casey Williamson and then we put on a penalty phase.
In Missouri, the only crime that carries the potential of the death penalty is first-degree murder. And that’s murder that’s done after deliberation, which is cool reflection for any amount of time, no matter how brief. So, it’s not heat of passion killings. It’s not spur-of-the- moment killings. It’s killings where there’s been premeditation, where it’s planned in advance.
But even then, not every first-degree murder case allows the prosecutor to seek the death penalty. There are 17 or 18 aggravating factors and you have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that at least one of those aggravating factors exists. >> I always prefer more than one, a lot more than one because the more aggravating circumstances are, the more egregious the crime and the more deserving of of a death sentence the individual might be.
>> Well, too, Johnny, like I said, he’s mentally ill, easily led. The detectives interviewed him. I forgot how many hours. >> The date is July 27th, 2002. The time is 12:50 a.m. >> And if you tell him something with that auditory processing disorder he has, and you tell him that and tell him that and tell him that, >> then he’ll just agree with what you tell him.
- Uh the person being interviewed at this time is Johnny Johnson. Johnny, I want to call your attention to this incident. Um in respect that a short time ago while we were standing in the in the booking section of the St. Louis County Department of Justice Services at the jail, you told me that you desired to make a a more complete and accurate statement of what occurred today.
Is that correct? >> Yes. >> Okay. And you did this because you felt like you needed to clear your conscience and your soul. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> Okay. Would you start with when you woke up this morning, what was going on and what your thought process were in relation to the victim? >> Uh, this morning I woke up and saw the victim standing beside the couch and I wanted to take her somewhere and sleep with her.
>> Okay. So, when you say you want to sleep with her, could you be more specific what you’re talking about? >> I wanted to have sex with her. >> Okay. Sexual relations with her. Yes. >> Um, and you told me over there that when you’d made up your mind for this, you were afraid that you could be caught, that she was going to tell someone, correct? >> Yes.
>> Okay. And what was your plan once you’d finished having sex with her? >> To kill her. >> Okay. >> It it was obvious to us you could lead him into saying anything. And if it’s the detective who needs to have an aggravator in in Johnny’s case, well, then you have to say he tried to rape her.
Well, that gives you the aggravator. Once you get the aggravator, that gets you death. >> So your chest was basically pinning her to the ground. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So what happens >> then? She starts freaking out. And >> what does she do when you say freaking out? >> She’s kicking and screaming and everything else. >> Okay. >> And at that point I I got up and then she stood up and then that’s when I decided to kill her.
>> Okay. Okay. But now you you had said earlier that when you left the house with her, this is what you told us that when you left the house with her, your intention >> intentions was to have sex with her. >> And you said your intention was to kill her to cover that up. Is that right? >> Yes. >> Because you told us that you didn’t want her mother and father, who you knew, to find out.
Is that right? >> Yes. >> And you didn’t want obviously prosecution and everything that went with that, right? >> Yes. >> And that was the whole purpose that you that you were going to kill her was after the sexual act. Is that right? >> Yes. >> Okay. But then I decided earlier that >> in an interview earlier with detectives can [music] have been in Neski, you said that you sustained a scratch while she was standing up and that’s not correct.
Is that true? It is interesting to hear [music] the closing arguments because the prosecutors and the defense attorneys have been at the very same trial and yet they are trying to sell completely different stories uh to to the jury. I mean, you know, the defense attorneys are uh often out there, you know, talking about that this is not a clear-cut case, and the prosecution is is, you know, just trying to be factoriented and the facts are very clear and the evidence is clear and the defense is seeing it from a totally
different point of view where they’re conceding that this is a horrible crime. how however you know they’re talking about the mitigating factors and trying to make the defendant seem more human. >> Anybody who thinks sort of outwardly about the work we do, it’s easy to uh demonize our clients to think of how do you sit across the table from somebody who’s accused of or has done horrible, horrible things.
I’ll tell some part of their story that humanizes them and and I think that at least helps people understand a little bit more about who the person is. I find very frustrating I guess the confines in which you have to work with in a courtroom setting, in a trial setting in which to explain the story of your client.
I find that very frustrating because the story of my client is often much much bigger and much more complex than a trial setting will allow me to explain to a set of jurors who have no information whatsoever about my client um in the very limited time I have in which to explain it. >> I wanted to be a public defender because I had been on several occasions the family of the victim.
I had a brother who was killed, murdered, a niece that was murdered and thrown in an alley. A nephew who was abducted, sodomized, and threatened to be killed. And some part of me wanted to understand what would make a person do that. And it really helped me to grow to to not be angry because as I had been to to see people or more than their worst day.
>> These are very emotional cases. You you can’t you can’t be involved in this as either a prosecutor or a defense attorney without getting very much emotionally involved in the case. Now, I’ve never been on the other side. So, I’m very emotionally attached to the victims and the victim’s families on this side of it.
And I’m sure the defense attorneys are very emotionally attached from his perspective. I’m sure that if you get to know this guy somewhat, if you dealt with him as as as long and as intently as they would have in the preparation and trial of this case, you know that it is very difficult. It’s got to be very difficult from that side of it.
And I’m frankly glad I’m not on that side of it for that reason. >> One of my strongest memories [music] of Johnny was in the trial. I was doing the closing argument for the penalty phase. So I was the one making the [music] closing argument to the jury trying to persuade them to our position that you know a life a sentence of life without parole would be the appropriate sentence for him.
And it had been a really long trial. [music] It had been a really really difficult trial. Um and both Bevy and I were very very tired and [music] it was certainly a very emotional trial. And you know, her mom, um, Angie was in the courtroom [music] and and there were aunts that were in the courtroom and grandparents that were in the courtroom.
And I mean, you can’t try these cases without picking up on their just their sorrow and their anger, you know, and their grief. I mean, and those are very normal [music] things for them to experience in light of what happened to their girl. But so all of that, you know, and and dealing with Johnny and I knew like all of the things that had happened to Johnny in his life.
And so when I’m doing my closing argument, and I truly believe and I [music] still believe to this day that sentencing Johnny to death accomplishes nothing. Um, and it wasn’t the appropriate sentence in this case, even though I know the jury worked [music] hard in this, but I mean, I just know that, you know, there’s better [music] alternatives out there.
And so towards the end of my closing argument, I started to cry. I was really tired. I was really worn [music] out. Um it was a very emotional thing to do. And I started to cry. And so I went ahead and wrapped up my closing argument. And I sat back down. [music] And I didn’t realize because my back was to Johnny when I was making the closing to the jury that Johnny was [music] crying.
And so Johnny, I sit down next to Johnny and we’re sitting at this table and it’s just covered with all our books and our papers and everything. And Johnny’s [music] been crying. And so he reaches out and he grabs my hand and he holds my hand. And with his other hand, he hands me this just tear stained [music] wet Kleenex that he’d been using.
And without even thinking about it, I just grab this wet old Kleenex from Johnny and I start wiping my tears [music] away. I thought, well, you know, this is just a total breakdown, you know, of [music] any barriers between attorney and client because we’re sharing the same wet tear stain Kleenex. [music] Um, and I think that was a perfect example of Johnny having such a good heart.
When he’s not in [music] the not in the grip of his, you know, schizophrenia, when it’s just not got its hands on him, you know, then Johnny is able to [music] feel what’s going on with the other people around him, which always made it so easy to like him. And that’s one of my strongest memories of him is at the end of that closing argument >> when a jury gets in that box, you know, they want to believe everybody’s good.
It’s difficult for them to think, wait a minute, could this guy really have done that? Could Could Johnny Johnson really have taken this little girl, dragged her into the woods, into this old abandoned factory, beat her, try to rape her, crush her? Could he really have done? Nobody could do that.
That’s just they don’t want to believe that. And that’s a good thing. And and it’s the same when you get with him with Johnson specifically with the death penalty. Nobody wants to sentence somebody to death. I’ve never ever seen a jury come back where they were happy that they had done it. Those juries are emotionally drained.
They don’t want to do it, but they they they come to the conclusion that this is what’s right. This is the right thing to do in this situation and we’re going to do it. We went into the jury room and everybody sat down. The foreman passed out paper and pencils and asked everybody to vote. There were two people who didn’t agree on the death penalty.
>> In the death penalty litigation, in order to decide a death penalty case, you have to go through what they call death qualification. What that means in real terms is that you load up your jury with people who are already predisposed to giving a death sentence. Going into the trial, my feelings on the death penalty were that if I am 100% sure that this person committed this crime, yes, that would be a suitable punishment.
But I did keep an open mind through the whole trial to listen to all the testimony and look at all of the evidence and weigh that out with what happened and what you know what the punishments were that we were instructed to decide on. You know, when we’re selecting a jury, first thing I always tell them, and I think most prosecutors trying a death penalty case is during the jury selection process, say, “Look, this is not some philosophical discussion we’re going to have here about the death penalty.
Is it a good thing? Is it a bad thing? Is it should it be used more? Should it be used less? Should it be used at all?” We’re not having that discussion. What we’re going to ask you to do is if you find this guy sitting right here who’s 10 feet from you. If you find him guilty of this murder, then I’m going to ask you to sentence him, this guy right here, sentence him to death.
And it hits home. You can see it in their faces that it hits home at that point that you know what, this is real. >> But we already knew too that there were only two outcomes. it was either going to be the death penalty or it was going to be life without the possibility of parole. So, we knew he wasn’t going to walk free.
But at the same time, I think uh some people had the impression that if you got life with parole that, you know, through the appeals process that since the death penalty hadn’t been recommended that it might somehow be overturned. He planned it out. He I mean her whole family was upstairs in this house. He took her in her night gown out of the house into this factory into a pit that she couldn’t get out of by herself.
Tried to rape her and then beat her to death with [music] a brick and a rock and then tried to cover it up. He took the life of an innocent six-year-old [music] girl. If that didn’t deserve the death penalty, then nothing does. I mean, you can’t do something like that and expect to just get off with a lesser punishment. In my opinion, the jury had to decide between life and death.
And ultimately, as you know, they um imposed a sentence of death and Judge Seagull went along with that recommendation and and also sentenced Johnny to death. I remember when they said what they were giving him and uh my brother stood up and called everybody murderers. He said, “How do you how do you think you’re different? You’re taking a life [snorts] and you don’t even know him.
>> [music] >> My name is Bob Lunt. I’m an assistant public defender. I represent primarily clients who have received the death penalty in what’s called postconviction litigation. Next week, I’m going to be arguing in front of the Missouri Supreme Court on Johnny Johnson’s case. It was undisputed during the trial that Johnny suffers from some form of schizophrenia.
All the doctors that have ever seen Johnny have all agreed that he suffers from schizophrenia of some form or another. >> Johnny is is so so sick and in many ways sort of fell through the cracks in terms of the educational system, the mental health system. If anybody had asked me all of my clients, if one of my clients was going to do this, Johnny wouldn’t wouldn’t have been even on the top 10 list of clients who would have done this.
But a lot of times when they’re not taking their medications and they have the um hallucinations or whatever the psychosis is combined with illicit drugs or or alcohol, this is possible. This is possible. Then your your demons take charge of your mind. You’re not in control anymore. I’d like to say that the the Missouri Supreme Court would see that a jury would be persuaded by neuroscychological evidence.
Persuaded enough that they would say at least he does not deserve death sentence. Still murder in the first degree, but not a death sentence. I’d like to see Johnny go back to a new penalty phase so that a jury could see that Johnny’s brain just does not work correctly and that he does not deserve to die. How likely that that is, I’m not I’m not entirely sure.
We never ask for death again on any case, that’s fine by me. But if we have a murder like the Johnny Johnson case, uh, with Casey Williamson, you know, yes, you know, we have those circumstances again tomorrow, that’s going to be a death penalty case. I hope we don’t, but if we do, I don’t have any any difficulty making that decision again.
When you have a a a child, an innocent child um killed in this manner, it’s easy for emotion to take over with juries. Um nobody would want their child to die in this way. seeing the the rock, seeing the brick, seeing her her night gown. Um, uh, but most of all was the the medical examiner’s report with the photos of the autopsy. And, you know, those the photos really haunted me for quite some time and still do.
I have to force myself not to think about it sometimes. But uh about a month or so after the after the trial, I I finally sought out help from uh a therapist to help me get the images out of my head. It was a traumatic experience that has taken a long time to get through. >> [music] >> You have to take that emotion and do something with it because if you don’t give it some focus, I think it can each up, you know, and there is one thing that I want to talk to you about that I don’t talk to people about.
I mean, what was my alternative? You know, you think about um him taking her into a pit that she couldn’t get out of. and think about what went on there. You can’t do that. I mean, this many years later, you can’t let your head go there because if you do, this is what happens and this is how you don’t function.
Even my own little one when she was little, she would she asked my friend some questions and you know, my friend said, “Well, Lauren, you know, you can ask your mom that.” And the Lord said, “Oh no, I don’t want to be the one make my mommy cry again.” I used to cry every night because when you lay down, then your those thoughts can creep in.
And my husband said to me, “You’ve got to figure something out because you can’t go through the rest of your life like this. It’s always with you. It’s something that changed my life. It changed everybody’s life in my family and in the town. I feel like it changed people’s lives. I noticed too though after everything happened when it would be like birthday cards [music] and stuff.
Remember, you know, Angie would always sign them Angie and Ernie and then like each kid’s name. But I remember one time um reading a card and being like Angie and Ernie and the kids cuz she couldn’t like not write Casey’s name. So I remember she just started writing and the kids. It is probably the most devastating case I ever handled.
I mean it I’ll still just in moments, you know, think about it, reflect on it. Um you know, he’s a tragic figure. Casey was a tragic figure. Um, it it it’s just devastating. It’s just heartbreaking on every level. >> This case is is a horror and the only way to make it more horrible would be to put Johnny to death with a guy whose brain doesn’t work.
The state just shouldn’t shouldn’t kill him. I think that the death penalty is an appropriate punishment in in very rare situations. And fortunately in St. Louis County, we have not had one of those [music] situations for quite some time. And I’m very happy about that. I hope we never ever again have one.
But I think in in some situations it is it is an appropriate appropriate punishment. Is it a deterrent? [music] I don’t know if it’s a deterrent or not. There are studies out there that go both ways. Some say no. Some say it’s [music] neutral. Some say it increases homicide. Some say it decreases homicide. If Johnny Johnson getting sentenced to death deters somebody else from committing a crime like that, that’s great. I doubt that it does.
I mean, these aren’t the [music] kinds of crimes that are deterred by the possibility of punishment. >> These cases [music] don’t really do anything to help families or individuals with mental illness. Um, [music] all they do is play into that uh primordial fear that the mentally ill are people to be shawned, that they [music] can’t be trusted.
The prosecutor said to me once, “You’re not just saying um that this is a a a dog [music] that has a mental problem. You’re saying this is a rabid dog.” Um and what do you do with rabid dogs? You they have to be put down. They have to be killed. >> I hate to use the term bleeding heart. There are people who are bleeding hearts. They’re disconnected.
They’ve never had it [music] touch their family. It’s easy to stand on the outside and be like, “Oh, well, how can you be for the death penalty and how how can you be that kind of person?” Well, that’s how you can be that kind of person because we lived it and she lived it. What she [music] went through, it’s easy to be out there and say, “Well, I don’t believe in that and that makes you barbaric [music] if you feel that way.
” But if you live the reality of it, you might feel differently. I’ve not had a member of my family or loved one killed. And [music] so I do respect the fact that I have not walked in the shoes of a person [music] who’s had that happen to them. I think and I think capital punishment sort of sells a bill of goods [music] that okay well if we do this you know we will feel better.
We would have taken care of the problem and we really haven’t. I think the money that we use to uh on capital cases could be used in prevention, could be used [music] for victim services. So I just don’t think it’s a viable societal solution for anything. Well, my father was a minister. I was raised in a religious situation when my brother was murdered.
They asked my mother [music] did she want the death penalty and she said no. I didn’t understand [music] that. I mean, I knew she was hurt. She was crushed. But somewhere in her heart, she didn’t have vengeance. I didn’t want to have vengeance because I think the hater is more hurt than the hated.
Because if you hating somebody, you got to take that with you everywhere you go. [music] It colors what you think. It colors what you feel. And I didn’t want to be like that. >> Such a wicked person who commits such a heinous crime. Can he be forgiven by God and be receiving of the gift of eternal life? Be patient. Wait for justice and please pray for this dear family.
It will be very difficult. My sister Debbie, she died of cancer. She really struggled with it on her deathbed really because she’s like, “Well, some minister told her that if she couldn’t say that she forgives him that she was going to go to hell.” And she said, “Well, I guess I’m going to hell because I don’t think I can say that.
” She said, ‘I can say that I’ve let go of it and that it’s between him and God, but if I have to say I forgive him for what he did, she said, ‘I can’t say that because So, you know, luckily she talked to enough people and we were all like, “Well, yeah, but you know, you haven’t let it make you a mean, angry, bitter person. You know, you’ve just turned it over to God.
” And in our eyes, that’s what forgiveness is. you know, if you just let it go. >> I remember being on the stand. Um, [snorts and clears throat] I looked at my brother cuz I hadn’t seen him in a while and I said, “I love you.” And he said, “I love you, too.” And I glanced over and I saw Angie. I said, “I’m sorry.” I was asked, “Do you still consider yourself friends with her? Do you still think she’s your friend?” And all I can replies, “I hope so.
I hope she has some understanding.” There are three viewing rooms that are separate, of course. one for the victim’s family, one from the inmates, friends and family, and one for the state’s witnesses. And never the twain shall meet. So, they all come in at separate times. They’re placed in separate places in advance and then they’re moved separately to the viewing chambers.
I think it only makes it worse for the victims and it destroys the lives of the defendant and their family who who didn’t do anything wrong. It destroys the lives of the guards of the prison who have to help kill this person. It debases the jury who has to decide to kill somebody. If we ever reach the point where a majority of the public feels, you know, we don’t we don’t think it’s right to kill somebody, uh that’s when we’ll we won’t have a death penalty anymore is when when the public decides we don’t want
this punishment. But u back uh 10 years ago, 75 to 80% of the public supported the death penalty. I think that’s lowered quite a bit since then. And so we’ll just see if the trend continues to get lower every decade or if it starts an upswing back up. But as long as the public thinks it’s a if they want it on the table as possible punishment, we’ll have it.
Well, I don’t know. You know, I’m uh not sure about the death penalty at all. I’ve I’ve witnessed a couple executions and once you start trying to figure out who’s more sick than evil and who’s more evil than sick, I I don’t I don’t know what to think. I’m ambivalent. I guess I’d say let’s say Johnny Johnson is schizophrenic and but yet he knew right from wrong.
In other words, should the fact that he has a psychotic illness preclude him from death as we have drawn the line with mental retardation now uh and with uh individuals involved in murders under the age of 18. That may be the the common [music] ground that we could all settle on that if he’s going to be convicted and you’re going to put him in prison, he has schizophrenia, then let’s don’t execute him.
>> So, pretty much exactly like last year. Yeah, pretty much like last year except for that we had to um >> just make the adjustments for the MO chips, right? >> We started um a memorial walk for Casey the year after and we called it a walk to remember Casey. We tried to say, “Oh, we’re just going to remember her and be happy that day.
” It didn’t really ever end up like that. We all kind of just ended up thinking about that god awful day and then we morphed it into the safety fair. Is there another big gray thing somewhere >> that had a lid? That’s where the other tablecloths are. >> Cardinal Glennon works with Kohl’s for kids. They’re going to come do bike helmet fittings and they’re going to give away 75 free helmets.
Um, Operation Lifesaver is the railroad safety organization. Valley Park has a railroad that runs right through it. So, they come and teach the kids to respect the tracks. Um, MDOT comes and teaches about seat belt safety, car seats, that kind of thing. Tomorrow though is all about being positive and trying to prevent, you know, other tragedies and keep it fun for the kids because we don’t want it to be a downer day.
She has a lot of cousins and a lot of people in, you know, that loved her. And so that’s why we just all pitch in and do this every year and remember her. I am very nervous heading for the Supreme Court. Um Johnny is is a client who I feel very strongly about. Um I like Johnny. I feel that Johnny does not deserve to to die.
Should I tell him that it doesn’t matter what you guys do to here today? When I go back and tell Johnny what happened, he’ll just nod and say, “Okay.” He’ll nod and say, “Okay.” If you guys uphold his death sentence, he’ll nod and say, “Okay.” If you decide that he stays the rest of his life in prison, he’d nod and say, “Okay.
” if he said that he would go home tomorrow. He doesn’t understand that eventually if things don’t change that that he’ll be dead. He doesn’t really get that. Thank you. But please the court uh Johnny Johnson has a mental disability in this state. We don’t kill people who have mental disabilities. There is no doubt that he has a mental disease.
It is the worst mental disease that a person can have. The jury heard and it is proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Johnny has >> it’s not easy for society to uh do anything or figure this out because somebody like uh Johnny Johnson had been identified as a person with mental problems had been referred to a psychiatrist had been referred to an agency was on medication And when someone like Johnny Johnson gets off medication, leaves his support system behind, you know, in his case, his grandmother, it’s difficult really to to know who to who to blame.
When Casey’s class graduated [music] in 2014, we had raised enough money that we were able to give every member of her class a $500 scholarship. It was our way to participate in their graduation in a positive way without it being sad. So, I talked to [music] the kids that day and this is what I said to them.
So, I said, “First of all, I would like to thank everyone for coming today and I would like to say congratulations to the class of 2014. [music] We can’t tell you how much it means to us to present these scholarships to you in memory of Casey. We loved Casey and it is important to us that her memory is kept alive and that she be remembered for positive things.
Some of you actually remember her. You played and laughed with her. To others, she probably seems like a character in a book. >> Today, we remember Casey and we celebrate each and every one of you as you leave here today. There are a few thoughts that I hope you will carry with you. First, you are important. The choices you make are important.
Every life, [music] even cases of a short six years, has an impact on everyone around them. The type of person that you are will make a difference. Whether it impacts three people or 3,000 people, you have the chance to help make the world a better place. Treat others the way you would like to be treated. Not too far, Casey.
>> What’s happening in a lot of states, >> there’s been a pairing down of mental health services [music] at the state level. In Missouri, in fact, uh there’s no longer civil services. Um it’s solely forensic uh for impatient treatment. You know, the mental health system in this country [music] was dismantled in in the 80s, all through the 80s.
And so, a lot of people who might otherwise have gone to a mental institution, the alternative is either we charge them and bring them into the criminal justice system or we leave them on the street. Now, neither of those are very attractive [music] alternatives. You know, 2009, Governor Nixon appointed me as director of corrections.
[music] You and sitting around the table with my fellow cabinet members, you know, they all had tremendous needs that were going unmet because of funds and everybody is scared to death about raising taxes or even talking about it. If you’re going to provide the services for mental health, for education, for health, for um kids, I don’t care what it is, it takes money.
>> Second, you only have one life. As you move forward, we hope that you do explore new things, go new places, and broaden your horizons. However, remember [music] that you only have one life. be smart and value it. >> And if the right thing is to protect the the rest of the community, you know, the option is Johnny Johnson sending him to a psychiatrist to [music] be treated and medicated, you know, versus putting him in the penitentiary forever and perhaps being executed.
I have no difficulty with that decision at all. Everybody [music] knows this is what would happen. Everybody knows that if Johnny’s death sentence is allowed to stand someday, they will put a needle in his [music] arm and put enough drugs into his body to end his life. That he’ll be strapped [music] down to a gurnie.
He’ll be given some drugs to to calm him [music] down so that he doesn’t resist when they go to kill him. There comes a time when the chief counsel asks the attorney general’s office if there’s any legal reason why this should not move forward. The director shares that with the governor’s office and they say proceed and it proceeds.
And then when it’s done, people are escorted separately out each group. uh the state’s witnesses sign a special form that says they did see this happen and uh that’s it. >> It’s gut-wrenching that um that we as a a society would decide, okay, you know, this person has to die. I can’t reconcile [music] him being killed.
I mean, it doesn’t it will not make anything any better. Society needs to take [music] some part of that blame and he should remain in an institution for the rest of his life. But the death penalty, it just I I just I don’t think it’s right in his case. In some cases, yes. But in his case, no. >> How about me? >> I’ll put you in there.
>> In closing, I would like to thank everyone for their help and support along the way. And I would like to thank you for being my therapy for [music] the last almost 12 years. You are where I refocused my emotions. Setting the goal of having her to be with you at graduation has helped me and my entire family get through each day.
She is part of the class of 2014 [music] and she’s with you in spirit. I’m proud of each and every one of you and I know that you’re going to go out there and make this world a better place. if and when the sentence [music] is carried out, I need to prepare for it. I need to know about it beforehand.
Um [music] because I don’t know how I’m going to feel honestly. You know, I’m not rethinking my decision, but it wasn’t an easy decision to come to. And it’s [music] not something that I take lightly, and I don’t want to hear about it on the news. Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Heat. Heat.
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