US judge rules 19-year-old too young to attend her father’s execution

Kevin Johnson and his daughter Khorry Ramey. Photo / ACLU

A teenager has been left “heartbroken” after a judge ruled she was too young to witness her own father’s execution.

Kevin Johnson, from Missouri in the US, will face the death penalty on Tuesday for the slaying of police officer and father-of-three William McEntee in 2005. The crime was committed when he was 19 – the same age his daughter Corionsa “Khorry” Ramey is now.

Johnson had formally requested that his daughter be present during his final moments by adding her to his official witness list, but a judge upheld a state law which bans citizens under the age of 21 from witnessing death penalties be carried out.

Similar age limit laws do not exist in most other US states.

Ramey had earlier argued that her presence during the execution of her only living parent would not only support her father, but would also afford her “peace of mind”.

“My father has been the only parent for almost all of my life, and he is the most important person in my life,” Ramey said in her initial declaration to the court.

“If my father were dying in the hospital, I would sit by his bed holding his hand and praying for him until his death, both as a source of support for him, and as a support for me as a necessary part of my grieving process and for my peace of mind.

“The harm that I will suffer because Missouri officials bar me from attending my father’s execution for no other reason than my current age is deep and cannot be fixed.”

Non-profit human rights organisation the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had also filed an emergency motion on Ramey’s behalf, claiming that the law was a violation of her rights and that there was no threat to her safety involved.

Corene Kendrick, deputy director of ACLU National Prison Project and Ramey’s lawyer, said in a statement the law barring her from the execution was “illogical and irrational”.

“If the state of Missouri thinks that her father’s actions when he was 19 make him mature enough to warrant execution, then a 19-year-old should be mature enough to witness that execution,” she argued.

“There is no dignity when a state kills its residents.

“The state of Missouri can refrain from needlessly inflicting even more profound and grievous pain on Ramey – a loving daughter with a simple wish to be with and say goodbye to her only living parent when the state takes him away from her.”

However, the ACLU’s bid ultimately failed, with Ramey barred from the execution.

Johnson has been in prison for the crime since his daughter – now a mother to a baby son of her own – was 2, although the pair managed to forge a close relationship over the years via jail visits, calls, emails and letters.

She said in a statement that she was devastated to be prevented from seeing her father one last time.

“I’m heartbroken that I won’t be able to be with my dad in his last moments,” she said, and explained her dad had been committed to rehabilitating himself while he was behind bars.

Ramey said she was praying that the authorities would show her father mercy, with Johnson’s lawyers filing appeals against the death penalty, claiming the harsh sentence was influenced by racism.

Ramey graduated from high school in 2020 and is pursuing a career in nursing while raising her newborn son.