Execution Report: Johnny Johnson

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A jury convicted Johnson of capital murder in May 1996 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in February 1998. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

"I wasn't there," Johnson said in an interview from death row the week before his execution. He denied any involvement in Smith's murder. "I was at work that night. I don't know what happened to her." He said that the confession he gave to police was coerced. When asked about his niece's testimony that he raped her when she was eight, Johnson answered that the girl's mother had a grudge against him. "It was her chance to get even with me."

In his last statement, Johnson criticized life on death row in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Polunsky Unit. Johnson repeatedly called death row "the Polunsky dungeon" and spoke out against the "hopelessness" of life there. "Why does my heart ache?" Johnson asked. "We want pleasure, love, and satisfaction ... Does anyone care who I am? Can you feel me, people?" Johnson also called for an end to the death penalty, then said goodbye to his relatives. The lethal injection was then started. He was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 2 March 2009. Typographical correction made on 23 September 2009.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Attorney General's Office, Associated Press, court documents.