May 17
TEXAS----new execution date
Houston death row inmate with brain damage scheduled for execution in August
A Harris County judge on Thursday set an August execution date for Dexter
Darnell Johnson, the brain-damaged Houston man who narrowly avoided the death
chamber last month when a federal judge decided his new legal team needed more
time on the case.
Following that last-minute stay, last week prosecutors tried asking for another
execution date, though Harris County Judge Greg Glass initially refused in
light of a pending hearing in federal court that could have further drawn out
the condemned man's appeals. But once a federal judge canceled that hearing,
prosecutors asked again for an execution date - and this time Glass agreed.
Now, Johnson is slated to die on Aug. 15.
Though he was linked to a total of 5 slayings during a monthlong crime spree,
the Houston man was sent to death row for a 2006 carjacking that left Maria
Aparece and her boyfriend Huy Ngo dead. That June, the high school drop-out and
four accomplices came across the young couple sitting and chatting in Aparece's
Toyota outside Ngo's home.
Johnson and two others threatened them with a pistol and a shotgun, then drove
the pair around town in Aparece's car, stealing her cash and credit cards.
Behind them, 2 other accomplices followed in their own vehicle.
Eventually, the carjacking crew pulled over and, according to trial testimony,
Johnson raped Aparece in the backseat as the others forced Ngo to listen while
they taunted him.
According to prosecutors, Johnson then shot Ngo in the head before murdering
Aparece. It took investigators 5 days to figure out what happened but by the
time trial rolled around, the state had linked Johnson to a slew of robberies
and killings, including the slaying of a man standing at a pay phone and the
murder of man sitting inside his car.
In court, Johnson's defense team argued that it was someone else who took Ngo
and Aparece into the woods and killed them — and Johnson has repeatedly
maintained his innocence in the slayings.
During more than a decade of appeals, Johnson's longtime attorney Patrick
McCann claimed his client had a low IQ and enough brain damage that he lacked
the brain functioning to be held to the same standard of culpability as other
adults.
"Mr. Johnson has significant brain damage that is at the root of this tragedy,
and that same damage has made him unable to help his defense throughout this
process," McCann said. "He has an actual hole in his brain where functional
brain matter ought to exist."
But the courts turned down those appeals and late last year - during an
emotionally charged court hearing where Johnson's family cried quietly and his
victims' families shouted at the chained prisoner - then-Judge Denise Collins
set a May 2 execution date.
Afterward, the legal focus of the case turned to into a heated battle between
attorneys, as federal public defenders accused McCann of shoddy lawyering and
tried to kick him off the case. Ultimately, a federal judge issued a stay to
give the federal defenders more time to investigate their claims. McCann
continued to work on the case until this month, when he withdrew on his own.
With the August execution date on the calendar, there are now 6 men scheduled
for execution this year in Texas.
(source: Houston Chronicle)
*****************************
Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----43
Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----561
Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #
44---------July 31----------------Ruben Gutierrez---------562
45---------Aug. 15----------------Dexter Johnson----------563
46---------Aug. 21----------------Larry Swearingen--------564
47---------Sept. 4----------------Billy Crutsinger--------565
48---------Sept. 10---------------Mark Anthony Soliz------566
49---------Oct. 2-----------------Stephen Barbee----------567
(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)
*****************************
USA----countdown to nation's 1500th execution
With the executions of Michael Samra in Alabama and Donnie Johnson in Tennessee
on May 16, the USA has now executed 1,497 condemned individuals since the death
penalty was re-legalized on July 2, 1976 in the US Supreme Court Gregg v
Georgia decision.
Gary Gilmore was the 1st person executed, in Utah, on January 17, 1977. Below
is a list of scheduled executions as the nation approaches a terrible milestone
of 1500 executions in the modern era.
NOTE: The list is likely to change over the coming months as new execution
dates are added and possible stays of execution occur.
1498-------May 23-------------Bobby Joe Long-----------Florida
1499-------May 30-------------Christopher Price--------Alabama
1500------July 31-------------Ruben Gutierrez----------Texas
1501------Aug. 15-------------Dexter Johnson-----------Texas
1502-------Aug. 15------------Stephen West-------------Tennessee
1503-------Aug. 21------------Larry Swearingen---------Texas
1504-------Sept. 4------------Billy Crutsinger---------Texas
1505-------Sept. 10-----------Mark Anthony Soliz-------Texas
1506-------Sept. 12-----------Warren Henness-----------Ohio
1507-------Oct. 2-------------Stephen Barbee-----------Texas
Learn more about efforts to #StopThe1500th Execution and how you can be
involved at http://deathpenaltyaction.org/1500th [deathpenaltyaction.org]
(source: Rick Halperin)
NEW HAMPSHIRE:
Official: House set to attempt override of death penalty repeal veto
House Speaker Steve Shurtleff has a “tentative” plan to attempt an override of
Gov. Chris Sununu’s death penalty repeal veto next week, according to House
leadership officials, a pivotal move that could lead the repeal bill to pass
into law by the end of the month.
Shurtleff intends to call a vote to override Sununu’s veto on the bill during a
voting session next Thursday – May 23 – officials in the Speaker’s office said.
That vote, if successful, would send the repeal bill to the state Senate.
The plans raise the stakes for House Bill 455, which would remove the
punishment of death for capital murder convictions and replace it with
“imprisonment for life without the possibility for parole.” That bill, a
facsimile of an attempted death penalty repeal bill, was vetoed by Sununu
earlier this month, after already passing the House and Senate with large
majorities.
But while May 23 is the intended day of the vote, a House leadership official
stressed that the date could be subject to change. Under the state
Constitution, the leaders of the House and Senate have discretion on when to
hold veto override votes; while many are traditionally held on “veto day” in
September, they can be called at any time by the House Speaker or Senate
President during a voting session.
The presiding officer is not obligated to announce the override attempt ahead
of time, and the veto override dates are not printed in the calendar.
According to the state constitution, the 1st veto override attempt must be made
by the body in which the bill originated– in this case the House. In order to
pass the bill over to the Senate, the House will need at least a two-thirds
majority vote in favor of an override.
If that happens, the Senate would not be able to hold an override vote until
May 30 at the earliest, according to a spokesperson for the Senate, who
explained that the full Senate will not be present on the 23rd.
The new schedule brings the attempt to repeal New Hampshire’s death penalty to
the closest in history. The repeal campaign has received renewed momentum in
recent years as advocates focused on wrongful conviction cases across the
country and key legislators switched sides.
But on May 3, Sununu vetoed the bill, citing support for law enforcement and
invoking the case of Michael Addison, New Hampshire’s sole death row inmate.
Addison, who was convicted for the 2006 slaying of Manchester police Officer
Michael Briggs, is currently appealing his case in federal court.
Recent repeal efforts have fallen short; last year, the Legislature failed to
muster the votes to overturn Sununu’s veto of the bill, 18 years after former
governor Jeanne Shaheen vetoed an attempt in 2000. But with a 279-88 House vote
in March – 76% support – and a 17-6 decision in the Senate, the vote already
appears to have a strong chance of surpassing the 2/3’s threshold.
As of Thursday, nothing had been publicly posted by House leadership about the
intended override vote. But some advocate groups appeared to know ahead of
time. In a Facebook post Wednesday, the Americans for Civil Liberties Union of
New Hampshire, which supports repeal, urged supporters to contact lawmakers to
override the veto.
“Urgent: Call your reps,” the post read. “The vote is next week.”
(source: Concord Monitor)
*****************
Death penalty makes no sense for NH, by Kate Kerman
In the debate about the repeal of the death penalty, I would like to refer to
Richard Van Wickler’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in March.
Van Wickler, who has been corrections superintendent of the Cheshire County
Department of Corrections for 26 years, stated clearly that the death penalty
is in no way a deterrent to the act of murder. He also pointed out that this is
the only case in which we impose on a criminal the punishment of what that
person did. We do not steal from someone convicted of stealing, or rape a
convicted rapist. Why then kill a convicted murderer?
As the member of a church community which experienced first-hand the trauma of
the murder of one of our young people, I know that having her murderer put to
death would not in any way compensate for her loss. I encourage everyone to
support an override of the governor’s veto.
KATE KERMAN
(source: Letter to the Editor, Keene Sentinel)
ALABAMA----execution
Alabama's 'pro-life' governor is a hypocrite
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday signed into law an extreme abortion ban,
citing "Alabamians' deeply held belief that every life is precious and that
every life is a sacred gift from God."
She has also presided over the state sanctioned killings of six people under
Alabama's death penalty law since she assumed office in 2017. That year, she
signed the ironically named "Fair Justice Act," an Orwellian edict that cuts
short the appeals process for those who have been condemned to die by the
state.
The anti-abortion movement raises a question about capital punishment that must
be answered. If the 25 white men who voted in the Alabama senate for a
near-total ban on abortion were really serious about the "right to life," would
they not have simultaneously banned capital punishment? The death penalty is a
clear violation of this right, as Pope Francis himself has recently argued.
Only last year the pontiff confirmed that the "death penalty is inadmissible
because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person." The
new Catechism of the church says that "in the light of the Gospel" all
Catholics must work "with determination for its abolition worldwide."
Are you listening, Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas? Each of
you is a Catholic. What about you, Neil Gorsuch? You were raised a Catholic and
now attend the Episcopal Church, which has opposed the death penalty for half a
century.
If it's time to tighten the ban on abortions, it's also time to get rid of
capital punishment once and for all. It's a genuine abomination that flies in
the face of human dignity.
Is it not deeply ironic that the seven states that have passed tighter abortion
laws are also actively open to killing live human beings by lethal injection or
electrocution? Among these, in addition to Alabama, are Mississippi, Georgia,
Kentucky, Kansas, Arkansas and Ohio. And laws restricting abortions have passed
one legislative chamber in Louisiana, Missouri, South Carolina and Tennessee --
all death penalty states .
Texas is one of the worst offenders when it comes to executions, killing 560
people since 1982. When Rick Perry was governor, 279 people were executed by
the state. Only last year, 13 prisoners were put to death in Texas.
And yet the Texas Senate earlier this month passed a "pro-life" bill that
severely restricts abortions -- even a fetus with "severe and irreversible"
abnormalities is not exempted. And doctors who perform abortions would risk
criminal prosecution (the proposed law is headed to a House committee now).
Even worse, a recently introduced bill in Texas would have opened up the
possibility of putting women to death for having an abortion! (It failed in the
House.)
And Alabama's Ivey? It's safe to say that those on death row in Alabama (a very
long row, with 177 seats at present) will not find compassion from this
so-called "pro-life" governor. Witness that on Thursday, only a day after Ivey
signed the abortion ban, she declined Michael Brandon Samra, a man convicted of
killing 4 people, a reprieve from execution by lethal injection.
Ivey still has an opportunity to grant an appeal for clemency to Rocky Myers, a
53-year old man with a severe intellectual disability who was, according the
American Civil Liberties Union, served by an incompetent lawyer and convicted
on the evidence of one eyewitness who has since recanted. The judge in this
case imposed the death penalty against the wishes of the jury.
This is justice in Alabama.
Have we lost all sense of reason in this country?
The new abortion laws in Alabama and Georgia, and those being considered
elsewhere, if enacted, will of course disproportionately affect poor and
minority women, who will either be compelled to have babies irrespective of the
circumstances of their conception, their ability to carry a live birth to term,
or -- most importantly -- their desire to control their own reproductive lives.
Alternatively, they will seek abortions, putting their medical providers at
risk of incarceration. Or they may seek other methods of terminating their
unwanted pregnancies, perhaps under unsafe conditions.
Similarly, the death penalty especially affects the poorest of the poor,
particularly in the United States. "If you are poor, the chances of being
sentenced to death are immensely higher than if you are rich," says a report by
the United Nations. "There could be no greater indictment of the death penalty
than the fact that in practice it is really a penalty reserved for people from
lower socio-economic groups. This turns it into a class-based form of
discrimination in most countries, thus making it the equivalent of an arbitrary
killing."
As a Christian, I value life in the deepest sense. In an ideal world, we would
take care of human beings from the womb to the tomb. There is, needless to say,
a complex debate about when life actually begins. And there is much to say for
the quality of life after birth -- and our society's willingness to ensure it
to all as a matter of policy -- as being just as important as the ticking
heartbeat.
The death penalty is another matter. It's not up for debate, in my view, and
those who do not see the connection between preserving the lives of fetuses and
preserving the lives of adults should take a clear-eyed look at their
consciences.
We don't get to kill people. Period. It's barbarous, inhumane, cruel, and --
thank goodness -- rare in most civilized countries.
(source: Opinion, Jay Parini, CNN)
*************************
Alabama Executes a Murderer a Day After Banning Abortions----Gov. Kay Ivey of
Alabama said she would allow the scheduled execution of a convicted murderer to
go ahead on Thursday, a day after she signed into law a near-total ban on
abortions.
Alabama executed a convicted murderer on Thursday, a day after the state
enacted a near-total ban on abortions — 2 actions on contentious social issues
that often have people across the political spectrum invoking the sanctity of
human life.
“It’s a contradiction that I always observed,” said Hannah Cox, the national
manager of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, an advocacy group.
Approving of executions, Ms. Cox said, is “a stance that cheapens the pro-life
argument.”
Ms. Cox, who is originally from Alabama and opposes both abortion and the death
penalty, said that more conservatives were coming to feel the same way,
offering as evidence Republican-sponsored bills to repeal the death penalty
that have been introduced in 11 state legislatures.
Michael Brandon Samra was executed by lethal injection Thursday evening,
according to the Alabama attorney general, Steven T. Marshall. Mr. Samra and a
friend, Mark Duke, were convicted in 1997 of killing 4 people — Mr. Duke’s
father, the father’s girlfriend and the girlfriend’s 2 young daughters — after
a dispute over a pickup truck. Both defendants were sentenced to death, but Mr.
Duke’s sentence was later overturned because he was 16 at the time of the
killings; Mr. Samra was 19.
Though the timing was coincidental, the actions taken by Alabama on consecutive
days served to highlight widely held positions on the political right that some
people say are in conflict, with protecting human life held paramount in one
context but not another.
Gov. Kay Ivey, who declined to halt the scheduled execution, has expressed some
discomfort with her role in the death penalty. Early in her tenure, she said
she did not “relish the responsibility that I hold” in capital cases, and she
has repeatedly depicted it as an unwelcome duty of her office.
“How to proceed when faced with a potential execution is one of the most
difficult decisions I will ever have to make as governor,” she said after one
execution. “No governor covets the responsibility of weighing the merits of
life or death; but it is a burden I accept as part of my pledge to uphold the
laws of this state.”
Even so, Ms. Ivey has not used her authority under the state constitution to
reprieve or commute any death sentence since she took office in April 2017. The
state, which carries out executions at an aging prison near the Florida border,
has executed six people during her tenure; Mr. Samra was the 7th.
A spokeswoman for the governor did not respond to messages on Thursday seeking
comment, but Ms. Ivey issued a statement after Mr. Samra was put to death.
“Alabama will not stand for the loss of life in our state, and with this
heinous crime, we must respond with punishment,” the statement said. “These
four victims deserved a future, and Mr. Samra took that opportunity away from
them and did so with no sense of remorse. This evening justice has been
delivered to the loved ones of these victims, and it signals that Alabama does
not tolerate murderous acts of any nature.”
Alabama currently has 176 more prisoners awaiting execution. All but two of
them were convicted of murder; 65 have been on death row for more than 20
years.
While death penalty opponents like Ms. Cox wonder how Christian conservatives
like the governor can oppose abortion but uphold execution, others say the 2
stances become coherent when viewed through a lens of innocence and guilt.
“In a sense, it’s perfectly comprehensible,” said Mark Silk, a professor of
religion at Trinity College. “Their view is that unborn babies and fetuses are
innocent life. They’ve done nothing to merit the death penalty. Whereas
murderers have done something to merit the death penalty. It’s an eye for an
eye, a tooth for a tooth. It’s how they look at the world.”
Professor Silk said that white evangelicals in particular, who make up more
than half the electorate in Alabama, may run into difficulty when men or women
“find their way to Jesus” while on death row.
“So much of evangelicalism has to do with conversion,” he said. “That’s such a
core experience for them. A murderer or rapist finding their way to God is as
powerful a manifestation of conversion that you can find.”
Ms. Cox said she found the argument that life is something to be protected only
when it is innocent to be “flimsy.”
“People should be still held accountable, but there should be more nuance,” she
said. “You are not the sum of the worst thing you’ve ever done.”
The Catholic Church’s teachings oppose both abortion and capital punishment on
similar grounds.
“Pro-life values are meaningless when they are inconsistent,” said Krisanne
Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, a
group working to end capital punishment. “The sanctity of human life applies to
each and every person, innocent and guilty,” she said, adding that the church
teaches that a person’s God-given dignity “is not lost even after the
commission of very serious crimes.”
“As Pope Francis has said, ‘There is no just penalty that is not open to
hope,’” Ms. Murphy said. “That is why the death penalty is neither Christian
nor human.”
A scholar of evangelical Christianity said that most evangelicals in Alabama
probably feel no tension between support for the death penalty and opposition
to abortion.
“Most conservative evangelicals wouldn’t think twice about executing someone
and then going to a pro-life march the next day,” said John Fea, a history
professor at Messiah College. He said their views have often been shaped by the
political battles that have raged over social issues in recent decades, so
that, for example, they also tend to oppose spending tax money on government
programs that might reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.
Progressive evangelicals see the issues differently, Mr. Fea said, but “they
are a minority in the state of Alabama and most of the evangelical South.”
The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest evangelical denomination, says its
support of the death penalty has roots in biblical teachings. “Imposing the
death penalty can help the murderer restore the broken relationship with their
creator, not just with humankind,” says an article posted by an arm of the
convention that addresses public issues. “While we have an interest in a
criminal’s return to society, we should be even more concerned with the state
of their soul.”
(source: New York Times)
***************
Alabama executes Michael Brandon Samra in second lethal injection of 2019
Alabama on Thursday executed Michael Brandon Samra in its second completed
lethal injection of 2019.
Samra was convicted of capital murder in the 1997 quadruple slaying of a Shelby
County family: Randy Duke, his girlfriends Dedra Mims Hunt and her young
daughters, Chelisa and Chelsea.
Samra's execution was slated for 6 p.m. on Thursday. The execution began more
than an hour late at 7:09. A physician pronounced Samra dead at 7:33 p.m.
When asked if he had any final words, Samra prayed.
"I would like to thank Jesus for everything he's done for me," he said. "I want
to thank Jesus for shedding his bloods for my sins. Thank you for your grace,
Jesus. Amen."
Samra appeared alert for several minutes before his eyes closed. At 7:15 p.m.,
his chest heaved 3 times in quick succession. After, his breathing appeared
significantly labored, with his head slightly jerking with each breath for the
next minute.
A consciousness test was conducted at 7:17. 2 minutes later, Samra stretched
and drew his fingers outward, attempting to raise his left hand against his
wrist restraints before curling his fingers inward. He then stilled.
The curtain was closed at 7:25 p.m.
Court documents outlining the case allege Samra, who was 19 at the time, was
recruited into the plot by a 16-year-old friend, Mark Duke. Duke, reportedly
enraged that his father, Randy Duke, wouldn't let him use his pickup truck.
Court documents state an armed Samra and Mark Duke approached Randy at his
home, where Randy's girlfriend, Dedra Mims Hunt, and her young daughters,
Chelisa and Chelsea, were also staying.
Mark Duke first shot his father before pursuing Hunt and the girls through the
house, killing the mother and Chelisa. Samra was convicted of killing Chelsea
by cutting her throat.
Six Hunt and Mims family members witnessed Samra's execution, along with two
attorneys from the Alabama Attorney General's Office. After the execution,
Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn read a prepared
statement from the 2 families.
"This has been a painful journey. Today justice was carried out," the statement
said, before thanking law enforcement and loved ones. "We ask that you keep all
families involved in your prayers."
When asked about the hour-plus delay in start time, Dunn said he was not aware
of any issues with the execution preparation.
Mark Duke was originally sentenced to death along with Samra, but his sentence
was reversed when the Supreme Court barred the death penalty for people younger
than 18 at the time of their crimes.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused a stay request from Samra. Attorneys
had argued his age at the time of the slayings should prohibit him from being
put to death.
“... One cannot possibly imagine a more terrifying ordeal for the victims,"
said Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall in an emailed statement. "Randy
Duke was shot in the head. Dedra Hunt was shot multiple times as she attempted
to flee with one of her daughters. Samra and Duke then proceeded to kill both
of the young girls, cutting their throats. Samra was convicted of capital
murder in 1998 and received his just punishment: a sentence of death. After too
many years of delay, justice has finally been served. Tonight, we pray for the
victims and for their families, that they might find peace and closure.”
Samra declined breakfast and did not request a final meal or any other final
accommodations, prison officials said.
Samra's death marks the third scheduled execution of 2019, but the second
completed of the year.
Alabama in February executed Domineque Ray after an 11th-hour U.S. Supreme
Court ruling vacated a stay of execution pending a religious rights claim. The
court ruled by a narrow majority Ray had waited too late to bring the issue to
light.
Ray, a Muslim, had argued Alabama's practice of including a Christian prison
chaplain in the execution chamber was in violation of the First Amendment. Ray
sought to have his imam present in the death chamber at the time of his death,
but the state said it would allow only trained prison employees in the chamber.
The court's 5-4 decision to allow Alabama to execute Ray proved controversial
across the country, provoking stinging criticism from both capital punishment
opponents and conservative evangelicals, who viewed Ray's claim as a religious
liberty issue.
In April, Alabama officials called off the lethal injection of Christopher Lee
Price near midnight.
Price, who was sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of Fayette County
preacher Bill Lynn, received an 11th-hour stay of execution from a federal
district court. Prison officials in Atmore were prepared to go forward with the
execution if the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the stay. But officials decided
shortly before 11:30 p.m. that the state could not feasibly begin execution
procedures before midnight, when Price's execution warrant expired.
Hours later, the court lifted the stay. Price is now slated for execution on
May 30.
In 2018, Alabama executed two men. A third execution in February 2018 was
aborted after multiple attempts to set an IV line in Doyle Lee Hamm's lower
legs and groin led to extreme pain and possible infection, Hamm's legal team
argued in a later lawsuit. In a settlement, Hamm's lawyers said the state
agreed to not seek another execution date for him.
(source: Montgomery Advertiser)
OHIO----new death sentence
Jury decides death penalty for man convicted of murdering couple at car
dealership
A jury has recommended the death penalty for the man convicted of murdering a
local couple during a robbery at their car dealership in 2017.
Joseph McAlpin was convicted last month on 4 counts of aggravated murder, 4
counts of aggravated robbery, 4 counts of aggravated burglary, 2 counts of
kidnapping, 4 counts of felonious assault and a slew of other charges.
The jury deliberated for less than hour. The decision comes in the 2nd day of
the sentencing phase of the trial and follows a morning of sometimes emotional
closing arguments by both sides.
(source: news5cleveland.com)
TENNESSEE----execution
Donnie Johnson of Memphis executed for 1984 murder of wife
The state of Tennessee executed Donnie Johnson on Thursday, 35 years after he
murdered his wife, Connie, by stuffing a 30-gallon garbage bag down her throat.
The execution was done on death row at Riverside Maximum Security Institution
on the northwest side of Nashville at 7:37 p.m. as 70 protesters outside the
facility prayed, talked about Johnson and spoke out against the death penalty.
Only one supporter of the death penalty stood in an area marked off for those
sharing the view.
A letter Johnson wrote just days before his death was read aloud as the group
stood in a circle on the grassy, rolling hills around the prison.
“I truly regret my life and what I have caused in the process," the letter
said. "I will continue to carry the pain of all the grief I have caused others
to endure and that I have hurt so many others. It is because of the person I
have become that I found I was not a man but a monster. And I was determined
this would no longer be acceptable. So I sought the Lord while I was at the
bottom of the barrel and the only way was up.”
Gov. Bill Lee declined to grant clemency for the 68-year-old Johnson, despite
requests from his wife’s daughter and religious groups who claimed he was a
changed man.
The Tennessee Department of Correction released a statement saying Johnson's
execution was carried out by lethal injection in accordance with state law.
Johnson had become an elder in Riverside Chapel Seventh-day Adventist Church,
preaching to inmates and on the radio. He gained forgiveness from the daughter
of his wife, Cynthia Vaughn, but not from Jason Johnson, the son he and his
wife had together.
Michael McRay, a volunteer chaplain on death row, read a letter from Vaughn,
who remained in Memphis with her husband and children.
In it, she described a living hell she suffered through for 30 years in which
she “fanned the flames of vitriol” toward her stepfather.
“In my head, I repeated, 'If he hadn’t killed mama, none of this would be
happening.' And for 30 years I dreamed of the day I could pour all my venom on
him,” the letter read.
Seven years ago, though, when she visited him on death row, after she “poured
out” all of her rage, she found herself forgiving him.
“I said, 'I can’t keep hating you. It’s not doing anything to you, but it’s
killing me. So I forgive you,'” the letter read.
Since then, she tried at times to hate him but couldn’t find it within herself
and actively called on former Gov. Bill Haslam and Gov. Lee to grant him mercy.
But to no avail.
The state used a combination of drugs for the lethal injection, even though
Johnson did not choose how he would die.
The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week decided not to consider a challenge by
Johnson and other inmates who claimed the batch of drugs used for executions
was unconstitutional because it failed to keep death row inmates from feeling
the terrible pain of death during execution.
According to reports, he also chose to give his last meal to the homeless.
Death row protesters consistently pointed out he was a changed man, including
chaplain Jeannie Alexander, who said he had changed her life.
Alexander said Johnson was partially responsible for pulling her into “the 5
most beautiful and sacred, holy years” of her life by persuading her to become
the chaplain there.
She spoke against death row, saying, “The monsters don’t live in the prison.
The monster is the system. The monster is the prison structure.”
Johnson led a double life of sorts before the murder, growing up in an abusive
family and getting into trouble by the age of 6, stealing and then resorting to
armed robbery, according to reports. He spent time at Jordonia juvenile
institution and then was sent to Pikeville, where he was physically abused,
according to a petition from his attorney.
While getting married and having 2 children, he hid his criminal side, working
as a salesman at Force Camping Sales in Memphis.
On Dec. 8, 1984, Johnson killed his wife by suffocating her when she came to
the store toward the day’s end. Divorce might have been a motive in the murder.
Johnson then enlisted Ronnie McCoy, an inmate from the Penal Farm who also
worked at the camping store, to help dispose of the body.
The next day, Johnson asked his boss to join him in a search for his wife. Her
body was found in a van at the Mall of Memphis.
At first, Johnson denied any involvement in the killing and accused McCoy of
murdering her for $450 in shopping money he gave her. But several of her
personal items were found in his truck, in addition to the keys to the van.
Police pinpointed him as the killer, and he was sentenced to death Nov. 25,
1985.
Since then, reports show, he admitted being a “liar, cheat, a con man and a
murderer.”
Johnson’s execution makes him the 10th person to be put to death in Tennessee
since it resumed capital punishment in 2000. 56 men and 1 woman sit on death
row, nearly 1/2 of them from Shelby County.
(source: dailymemphian.com)
**************
How the families of Connie, Don Johnson reacted to the death row inmate's
execution in Tennessee
Nearly 35 years later, her family says justice has been done after Donnie
Edward Johnson was executed by lethal injection for her murder.
Johnson died at 7:37 p.m. CDT on Thursday at Riverbend Maximum Security
Institution in Nashville. He was 68.
He was the 136th person put to death by Tennessee since 1916 and the fourth
person since the state resumed executions in August.
"Justice was done," Jackie Duvall, Connie Johnson's brother, said in an
interview after the execution.
"It took 35 years, but I hate it on both ends, but mostly the way he didn’t
have to murder my sister like that," said Duvall, who was not a witness to the
execution. "That was a very dirty, evil murderer. ... We have been through
total hell with all of this."
Neysa Taylor, director of communications for the Tennessee Department of
Corrections, read a statement from Margaret Davis, Connie Johnson's sister.
“Connie Johnson’s death had a great impact on all of our lives," the statement
read. "We thank the Lord for each day we were able to spend with her before her
life was tragically taken. Donnie Johnson was rightfully sentenced for
committing such an unspeakable crime.”
The statement also criticized the criminal justice system, saying it needs to
be re-evaluated due to the appeals process that gave the death row inmate a
“34-year extension” on life.
“Regardless of what we say or do, there will never be enough to bring Connie
back," the statement read. "Three decades ago we sought justice, today we seek
closure.”
Donnie Johnson's own family also issued a statement centered on the victim.
“For the family of Donnie Johnson, this tragedy has come to an end for us all,"
read the statement from his sisters and issued through a family attorney.
(source: Commercial Appeal)
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