Kevin Johnson, man who killed Missouri officer executed

Kevin Johnson, who killed a Kirkwood, Missouri, police officer in 2005 but claimed racial prejudice throughout his trial, was put to death by lethal injection on Tuesday night.

At 7:40 p.m. CT, Johnson, 37, was pronounced dead. According to Karen Pojmann, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Corrections, he did not make a closing statement.

After the US Supreme Court turned down his request for a stay of execution, the execution took place. The court's website states that Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson disagreed.

Johnson had requested a stay, but the Missouri Supreme Court had rejected it on Monday after hearing allegations that racial prejudice had been a factor in his indictment.

William McEntee, a police sergeant for the Kirkwood Police Department, was killed on his hands and knees in front of the people he had devoted his life to protecting, according to his widow Mary.

"When he left for work that day, we could not imagine that he would be executed by someone he gave his life to protect," she said at a media briefing Tuesday evening. "Bill didn't get to fight for his life. He didn't have the chance to be heard before a jury, to decide whether he would live or die."

Additionally, she expressed gratitude to the prosecutors for their "hard work and many hours... for justice for Bill."

The 19-year-old daughter of Johnson, who had failed last month to convince a federal judge to stop the state from carrying out her father's death unless she was allowed to be a witness, did not witness the execution. People under the age of 21 are prohibited from attending Missouri legal proceedings.

Johnson met with his daughter earlier on Tuesday, according to Pojmann.

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