Execution Report: Lonnie Johnson

Lonnie Earl Johnson, 44, was executed by lethal injection on 24 July 2007 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder and robbery of two teenage boys.

On 15 August 1990, Leroy "Punkin" McCaffrey, 17, and Gunar "Sean" Fulk, who was also known as "Bubba," 16, approached Johnson, then 27, at a convenience store in Tomball in north Harris County. The boys agreed to give Johnson a ride. The boys' bodies were found later that morning on the side of the road, about four miles away. Fulk was shot three times in the head and once in the chest. McCaffrey was found entangled in a fence about 350 feet away. His spinal cord was severed by a single gunshot. A knife was in his hand.

Following the killings, Johnson stole Fulk's truck and drove to Austin to visit his girlfriend. He later abandoned the truck in San Marcos, between Austin and San Antonio. He traded the gun used in the killings for cocaine. He was arrested in Austin on 29 August. At the time of his arrest, Johnson claimed that he killed the youths in self-defense. He maintained this position throughout his trial and appeals.

Prosecutors said that Johnson pulled the gun and forced the boys out of the pickup. He shot Fulk multiple times, but McCaffrey was able to run away. Johnson chased him and caught up with him as he tried to make his way through a fence, then shot him.

Johnson had a history of violent behavior. At age 17, he punched his girlfriend in the face on one occasion, and struck her with a brick on another occasion. Another girlfriend testified that he struck her in the face and stole her car. At the time of the capital murder, he was on probation for a misdemeanor conviction for assaulting a female relative. He also had previous convictions for burglary and larceny.

While in jail awaiting his capital murder trial, Johnson assaulted fellow inmates on three separate occasions: hitting one, striking another in the lip with a pen, and breaking a broom handle on another one's head.

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