Mo. Supreme Court upholds death sentence of Columbia man

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The state Supreme Court narrowly votes to uphold a death sentence for a Columbia man convicted of killing three people.

Ernest Lee Johnson has been sentenced to death three times for the 1994 killing of three convenience store employees. On his third appeal, he argued that prosecutors must prove that he is not mentally retarded.

A divided court ruled that the defense must prove mental retardation. The U.S. Supreme Court doesn't allow mentally retarded people to be executed.

The majority opinion noted that no state requires prosecutors to prove that someone is not mentally retarded.

Dissenting judges said there should be a new death sentence hearing with the state proving whether Johnson is mentally retarded.