POTOSI, Mo., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The Missouri Supreme Court Tuesday rejected a last-minute petition, opening the way for the scheduled midnight execution of Stephen Johns.
Johns, 55, was convicted in 1982 for killing a gas station attendant during a robbery.
He has steadfastly maintained his innocence and his attorney, John William Simon, had hoped a newly discovered affidavit absolving Johns of involvement in the crime would convince the state's high court to grant a hearing. The court denied the petition.
The affidavit was by Robert Shawn Wishon, 38, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Feb. 18, 1982, robbery-murder of Don D. Voepel, 17, a night clerk at an Onyx gasoline station.
Johns was fingered by Wishon as the triggerman in a videotaped confession. Wishon was released from jail in August.
Simon told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in going through a stack of legal documents last Friday, he came across the affidavit in which Wishon said: "I have never been questioned by any attorney or investigator, or anyone else that claimed to represent Stephen Johns. If I had ever been asked, I would have and will testify that to the best of my knowledge, Stephen Johns had nothing to do with the death of Donald Voepel. I did not see or talk to Stephen Johns on the 18th of February, 1982, after 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon."
Simon said finding the document was like something straight out of the movies.
He acknowledged, however, it was unclear when or why the affidavit was given and that it contradicts the videotaped statement.
As to why Wishon changed his story, Simon speculated, "One of the reasons why people change their presentation of what happened is a guilty conscience."
Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon discounted the affidavit and the man who prosecuted Johns, Gordon Ankney, said he never has doubted Johns' guilt.
Evidence showed Johns committed the robbery-murder along with Wishon, then 19, and a 19-year-old woman who drove the getaway car, he said. Testimony showed Johns ordered Voepel to the floor and then shot him in the back of the head three times.
