A 19-year-old woman will not be allowed to watch her father be executed by the state of Missouri after a federal judge denied her request to witness the lethal injection. Ahead of Kevin Johnson’s execution, scheduled for Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed an emergency motion on his daughter’s behalf, arguing that a Missouri law requiring witnesses to be over 21 violated her constitutional rights. Late Friday, U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes dismissed this argument. Johnson, 37, has been in prison since Corionsa “Khorry” Ramey was a toddler, following his conviction for the killing of a police officer in 2005. Despite that, Johnson “has been there for me my whole life,” Ramey said in a statement through the ACLU, adding: “I’m heartbroken that I won’t be able to be with my dad in his last moments. My dad is the most important person in my life.” Ramey has been visiting her father since his death-row incarceration in 2007, when she was four years old, according to The Intercept. The two still speak weekly, and she was able to introduce Johnson to his newborn grandson in October, according to Ramey’s complaint.
