From: davidc@wa-wd.com   
      
   Matthew Johnson, 49, was executed by lethal injection on 20 May 2025   
   in Huntsville, Texas for the robbery and murder of a convenience store   
   clerk.   
      
   On Sunday, 20 May 2012, Nancy Harris, 76, opened the convenience store   
   in Garland where she had been a longtime employee. A few minutes   
   later, Johnson, then 36, walked in carrying a cigarette lighter and a   
   bottle of lighter fluid. The store's cameras showed that Johnson   
   walked around the counter to the employees-only area where Harris was   
   standing. He poured the fluid over Harris's head, demanded money, and   
   stood immediately behind her as she attempted to open the cash   
   register.   
      
   While Harris struggled with the cash register, Johnson took two   
   packages of cigarettes from an overhead dispenser and two lighters   
   from a display on the counter. He also attempted to remove Harris's   
   ring. When it did not come off, he licked his fingers and, using the   
   saliva to lubricate Harris's finger, worked the ring off.   
      
   When Harris opened the register, Johnson moved in front of her, put   
   the cash tray on the counter, and took all of the currency and some of   
   the coins.   
      
   The cameras next show something out of frame bursting into flames.   
   Harris is then seen running from behind the counter to a nearby sink,   
   on fire from her shoulders up. She leaned over the sink and attempted   
   to extinguish the flames. When that attempt failed, she removed her   
   shirt and dropped it on the floor. Her bra was still burning. As she   
   leaned over the sink again, the flames from her still-burning shirt   
   ignited her pants leg. Meanwhile, Johnson calmly walked over to a   
   display rack near the front door, selected some candy, and put it in   
   his pockets. He then walked out of the store.   
      
   Police officer Billey Coffey testified that he and another officer,   
   Anthony Simon, were near the store at the time of the offense. When   
   they saw flames and movement inside the store, they rushed to   
   investigate. They reached the parking lot just as Harris, who was   
   still on fire, made her way out through the front door, screaming for   
   help. Coffey put out the flames by spraying Harris with a fire   
   extinguisher. Harris told Officer Simon that a heavy-set black man   
   wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt robbed her and poured liquid on her.   
      
   William Crews, a Garland firefighter and paramedic, testified that he   
   treated Harris at the scene after a police officer flagged down his   
   ambulance. He observed first, second, and third-degree burns on   
   Harris's face, shoulders, abdomen, upper arms, and legs. She was in a   
   lot of pain, very worried, and repeating, "Help me, help me, please."   
   She remained conscious on the way to the hospital.   
      
   Upon arrival at Parkland Hospital's emergency room, Harris was   
   intubated and placed on a ventilator because her airway was swollen   
   and constricted from the burns. Before she was intubated, she told   
   Officer Larry Wilson that a heavy-set black man with short dark hair   
   and a chubby face entered the store, demanded and took money from her,   
   poured a liquid on her, and set her on fire.   
      
   The medical team at the hospital advised Harris's family that she   
   sustained burns over forty percent of her body and that given her age   
   and the extent of her injuries, she would not survive. She was removed   
   from life support, in accordance with her previously executed living   
   will and do-not-resuscitate directive. She died on 25 May. The medical   
   examiner determined that her death was a homicide by burning.   
      
   Officer Rafael Perez spotted Johnson in the neighborhood at about 8:00   
   a.m. on the day of the crime and caught him after a foot chase.   
   Officer Coffey assisted Perez with handcuffing him. Johnson said,   
   "What took you so long? Y'all are getting slow." A search of his   
   pockets yielded Harris's ring, a used cigarette lighter, two new   
   lighters, $76 in currency, and some coins.   
      
   The manager of the convenience store subsequently testified that the   
   cash register would have contained about $80 when Harris opened the   
   store.   
      
   Jim Medley testified that he lived about a half a block from the   
   convenience store, across an alley. At about 7:30 a.m., he went   
   outside to find out why his dog was barking. He saw police cars and   
   heard sirens. He found the gate to his rear driveway open and noticed   
   that his garbage can had been moved. He saw an opened cigarette pack   
   missing two cigarettes and a broken, unlit cigarette lying in his   
   driveway. When he put these items in his garbage can, he saw an   
   unfamiliar short-sleeved t-shirt inside the receptacle. About two   
   houses away, he saw a shirtless black man pushing a bicycle in the   
   opposite direction.   
      
   Ken Marecle testified that between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m., his daughter   
   saw a man on their back porch. He looked outside and observed the man   
   going around toward the front of the house. He cracked open the front   
   door and saw a man wearing pants and glasses but no shirt. The man   
   repeatedly said that he needed help. He then tried to force his way   
   into Marecle's house. Marecle shoved him back, and the two men   
   struggled in the courtyard. The man pushed Marecle to the ground, took   
   his glasses, and ran away. In court, Marecle identified the man as   
   Johnson.   
      
   Lawrence Denson testified that between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m., Denson saw   
   a man trying to enter the side gate to his property. When Denson   
   confronted him, the man held his arms out and said, "Man, I'm in a bad   
   way." Denson told him to "get his bad way out of my yard." The man   
   continued to approach, but fled when another man, Denson's friend,   
   walked outside. In court, Denson identified the man as Johnson.   
      
   Videotape from Officer Coffey's squad car was played in court to show   
   that Johnson freely conversed with the officers on his way to the   
   police station and that he did not appear to be drunk or impaired. Ken   
   Marecle and Lawrence Denson also testified that Johnson did not appear   
   to them to have been using alcohol.   
      
   Johnson had previous convictions for theft, aggravated assault,   
   robbery, evading arrest, violating probation, and other offenses too   
   numerous and varied to even summarize. He did have a prior prison   
   record.   
      
   The defense did not call any witnesses for the guilt-innocence phase   
   of the trial. During the punishment phase, Johnson testified that he   
   had been drinking and smoking crack the night before Harris's murder.   
   He took a Xanax at 4:00 a.m. that morning and drank a half bottle of   
   wine at about 6:00 a.m. He said that he entered the convenience store   
   to get some money to buy more crack. He found a plastic bottle and put   
   some lighter fluid in it with the intention of pouring on his victim   
   as a scare tactic. He said that after he doused Harris and while he   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)