A KILLER who burned an elderly store clerk to death gave a chilling message to the victim’s family moments before he was executed.
Matthew Lee Johnson‘s 26-minute death by lethal injection came exactly 13 years after he set great-grandma Nancy Harris, 76, alight during a robbery.
APMatthew Lee Johnson made a chilling statement before he was executed for setting an elderly clerk on fire in Texas[/caption]
Restland Funeral HomeHe set her alight during a convenience store robbery in 2012[/caption]
AFPA gurney used to execute prisoners by lethal injection, called the Death Chamber, in the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas[/caption]
The clerk suffered severe burns and died several days later following the convenience store heist in Dallas, 2012.
Depraved Johnson, 49, was pronounced dead at 6:53pm on Tuesday.
His eventual death came about 26 minutes after officials injected a cocktail of drugs into his arm at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.
Leading up to the execution, Johnson begged the victim’s family for forgiveness.
Turning to a window a few feet away where Harris’ family were watching the execution – the sick killer pleaded with the grieving relatives.
After begging for forgiveness – he bizarrely stated that he wanted to see slain Harris again.
Johnson said: “As I look at each one of you, I can see her on that day.
“I please ask for your forgiveness. I never meant to hurt her.”
He stated: “I pray that she’s the first person I see when I open my eyes and I spend eternity with.”
The death row inmate also asked his wife and daughters to forgive him.
The dad said: “I made wrong choices, I’ve made wrong decisions, and now I pay the consequences.”
Since the heinous attack was partially caught on camera, Harris was able to describe Johnson before she succumbed to her injuries.
During his 2013 trial, Johnson admitted to the brutal burning.
He expressed regret for the murder and branded himself “the lowest scum of the earth“.
The murderer claimed he was high on crack when he set the victim on fire and was therefore not aware of his actions.
He said at the time: “I hurt an innocent woman. I took a human being’s life. I was the cause of that.
Lethal injection controversy in South Carolina
By Patrick Harrington, foreign news reporter
THE three most recent executions in South Carolina were by lethal injection, and the cases have sparked controversy.
It took around 20 minutes before each of the three men were officially declared dead.
Complicating the situation is a law passed in 2023 which restricts much of the information about executions being made public.
It requires the identities of execution team members remain secret and forbids the publication of information about how the drugs are bought by the state.
This follows a growing number of pharmaceutical companies refusing to sell their drugs to be used in executions.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit challenging the state law in January.
It wrote: “This ban not only further departs from the state’s history of making execution-related information publicly available but criminalizes the disclosure of this information by anyone for any reason.
“It thus silences the scientists, doctors, journalists, former correctional officials, lawyers, and citizens who have scrutinized the safety, efficacy, morality, and legality of South Carolina’s use of lethal injection.”
The state has released only one of two available autopsies from the recent executions, and Brad Sigmon’s lawyers say it shows an unusual amount of fluid in the man’s lungs.
“It was not my intentions to — to kill her or to hurt her, but I did.”
The killer’s legal team previously argued their client had a drug addiction and was sexually abused as a child.
Harris was survived by four sons, 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
It comes after a serial killer once linked to the OJ Simpson murder case sent a message to Donald Trump in the final moments before he was executed.
Glen Rogers, who claimed to have killed up to 70 people, was put to death by lethal injection on May 15 at Florida State Prison.
The 62-year-old, dubbed the Casanova Killer due to his charm and good looks, was executed for the 1995 slaying of a woman in a Tampa motel.
And his last words were, “President Trump, keep making America great. I’m ready to go.”
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