According to reports, the Trump administration executed its 12th federal death row inmate when Corey Johnson was given a lethal injection for killing seven individuals in Richmond, VA, in 1992.

Johnson was killed "with a lethal injection of pentobarbital, a process that often causes pulmonary edema, a condition in which fluid enters the lungs while the person is still conscious and creates a painful sensation similar to suffocating or drowning," describes HuffPost's, Jessica Schulberg. At the time of his execution, Johnson was recovering from COVID-19 and reportedly still experienced symptoms until his death. What's more, medical experts believe the process was "tortuous" due to the lethal cocktail's normal function and compounded by Johnson's persistent COVID-19 symptoms. 

There was also evidence that Johnson had an intellectual disability, which should have made him ineligible for the death penalty. "He stayed in the second grade for three years and repeated grades three and four. At the age of 13, he couldn’t recite all of the months in the year and struggled to write his own name. He would never progress much more academically: by his early 20s, he was 'no higher than second grade' in reading and writing," writes Schulberg. Johnson frequently moved throughout his early childhood and adolescence. As a result, it was difficult to keep track of his school records, making it nearly impossible to diagnose his learning disability properly. 

“The government’s arbitrary rush to execute Mr. Johnson, who was categorically ineligible for execution due to his significant impairments, rested on procedural technicalities rather than any serious dispute that he was intellectually disabled,” wrote Johnson's legal team. “No court ever held a hearing to consider the overwhelming evidence of Mr. Johnson’s intellectual disability. And the clemency process failed to play its historic role as a safeguard against violations of due process and the rule of law.”

"We loved Corey Johnson, and we knew him as a gentle soul who never broke a rule in prison and kept trying, despite his limitations, to pass the GED. His family and loved ones are in our hearts,” they added. 

Corey Johnson apologized to his victims in a final statement, expressed his love for his family, and gratitude for his legal team. He also thanked the prison’s Special Confinement Unit and the spiritual advisers. 

Source: huffpost.com