Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
The United States is Executing the Second Disabled Person in 48 Hours

The United States is Executing the Second Disabled Person in 48 Hours

Last updated on: January 14, 2021 at 8:44 pm by Mary Pezzulo

The United States is Executing the Second Disabled Person in 48 Hours 2021-01-14T20:44:24-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I know that this is exhausting to think about, so soon after the last time we had to think about it. But it’s not something we can look away from.

Today, the United States government– our government, the government that we elect which is supposed to carry out our wishes– is executing another disabled person, the second in 48 hours.

We live in a representative democracy. What the people in this government do, they do for us and with our permission– or, at least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. In a very real way, we, the American people, are executing the second disabled person in 48 hours. We’re going to kill him.

Lisa Montgomery committed a horrendous murder while she was severely ill with complex post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, dissociative disorder, fetal alcohol syndrome and a traumatic brain injury. And while she was being executed, her lawyers report that she was so dissociated she didn’t really know what was happening. Yet the allegedly pro-life Supreme Court of the United States, who have punted away every abortion-related case that’s come their way, stayed up until one in the morning to overturn her stay of execution. The officials at Terre Haute prison did not allow her to have her spiritual advisor present to sing “Jesus Loves Me” to her as she wished; she died alone.

Anyone involved could have chosen to act differently. The Supreme Court could have declined to hear the case and let the lower court’s ruling stand. The people who worked at Terre Haute could have gone on strike. But they didn’t. They did their jobs. We, the American people, all worked together to kill a disabled person. That happened at 1:30 in the morning on Wednesday. And now, we’re doing it again.

Corey Johnson, a drug dealer from Richmond, Virginia, was scheduled to die for his role in a series of gang shootings. The execution was supposed to take place in the same death chamber they used for Lisa Montgomery about an hour ago as I write this, but there’s a bit of a delay. His lawyers are scrambling for a stay because Johnson has lung damage from Covid-19. They argue that a suffocating lethal injection would be excruciatingly painful under that circumstance. This is being appealed to the Supreme Court as we speak. There’s no reason to think the appeal will go better than the ones they handled on Tuesday and early Wednesday.

Johnson, like Montgomery, was raised in an abusive home. His mother, like Montgomery’s, was an addict. She physically abused him repeatedly, right up until she abandoned him when he was only thirteen; then he was shuffled between foster homes and institutions until he aged out of the system. His IQ was tested several times as a child and adult and he was found to be intellectually disabled, in the 69-74 range. But these tests weren’t discovered until after he was sentenced to death. Another test administered by a psychologist who was not an expert in intellectual disability gave him a slightly higher IQ score as an adult, above the threshold required for a diagnosis. He still reads and writes at a second grade level. His former school teacher said he suffered from hyperactivity and anxiety, and had to be escorted to and from the bathroom at the age of sixteen.

Yes, what he did was heinous. No one including Johnson denies this. He has expressed remorse for the slayings. But he’s not going to kill anyone ever again, whether he lives or dies. The United States government, on the other hand, is ready to kill a person so disabled he couldn’t find his way back from the bathroom at sixteen and call it justice.

Sister Helen Prejean has stated, “The death penalty is a poor person’s issue. In the end, it’s the poor who are selected to die in this country. You’ll never find a rich person on death row.” And she’s right. Rich people commit horrendous crimes, sometimes. Rich people murder. And when they do, they can afford lawyers who will talk their way out of a death sentence no matter what. Poor people, people like Lisa Montgomery and Corey Johnson, on the other hand, seem to be born under a death sentence. They’re traumatized and abused their whole lives; they learn violence and go out to be violent, and then the government repays their violence with one final, cold-blooded, clinical act of violence. Violence begets violence; it can never be a path to peace. This is America’s grave sin. We create a culture that grinds children into dust and produces abused, addled, confused, violent people with no way to get help even if they realize they need it, and then we sentence them to death for violence. We stay up until one in the morning fighting for the right to inject them with poison. We ignore any signs that we might be torturing them. We deny them the presence of a spiritual advisor to sing them a final lullaby.

This is our sin.

The United States is doing this in our name. You and I killed Lisa Montgomery, and we’re going to kill Corey Johnson.

If you and I don’t like that, we had better work to change it. It’s too late for Lisa and Corey.

It’s probably too late for Dustin Higgs, the last of the federal executions scheduled under President Trump. Barring another delay, he will be killed tomorrow.

But it may not be too late for the next victim.

Corey Johnson is in the Death House, in the same room where Lisa Montgomery spent her last day. Shortly, he’ll be escorted to the death chamber the way he had to be escorted to the bathroom, and he’ll die a painful death.

We can become a country where this doesn’t happen.

For now, we have chosen not to.

Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross.

Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, visit our donate page.

preferential option for non-violence

Previous Post

January 14, 2021

People are Made of Stories

Next Post

January 15, 2021 Dustin Higgs's Execution and the Cycle of American Violence

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The thief on the cross Thomas Mary Magdalene Peter