[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TENN., ARK., WYO., USA

[Rick Halperin]

May 16



TENNESSEE----impending execution

Memphis death row inmate Donnie Johnson scheduled to be executed Thursday



Donnie Johnson, a convicted killer from Memphis who has been on death row for 
34 years, is scheduled to be executed on Thursday.

Johnson has since been moved to death watch, and is under 24-hour observation 
at Riverbend Prison in Nashville. His execution is scheduled for 7 p.m.

In October 1985, Johnson, 68, was convicted of murdering his wife Connie 
Johnson in 1984 by suffocating her in a Memphis camping center that he managed 
and leaving the body in a van in the Mall of Memphis parking lot. He initially 
blamed the murder on a work-release inmate who confessed to helping dispose of 
the body and was granted immunity for testifying against Johnson, according to 
court documents.

Earlier this week, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said he would not step in to stop 
the scheduled execution after supporters, including Johnson’s stepdaughter, 
made a plea for clemency.

According to a petition sent to Lee on, Johnson became a Seventh Day Adventist 
Church elder while in prison who was known for ministering to other prisoners.

Johnson’s clemency petition also included, a plea from Cynthia Vaughn, the 
daughter of the woman Johnson was convicted of killing. Vaughn is also 
Johnson’s stepdaughter.

The petition quotes from Vaughn’s own letter to the governor in which she 
described visiting Johnson in prison in 2012 after not seeing him since she was 
a little girl. Vaughn said she vented 3 decades of anger and pain on Johnson, 
telling him how it felt not to have her mother around when she graduated from 
high school, got married and had a baby.

“The next thing that came out of my mouth changed my life forever,” she wrote. 
“I looked at him, told him I couldn’t keep hating him because it was doing 
nothing but killing me instead of him, and then I said, ‘I forgive you.’”

The petition made no claim of innocence, instead saying Johnson was “justly 
convicted of the murder of his wife.” It also detailed the abuse Johnson 
suffered as a child at the hands of his own stepfather and later in juvenile 
detention centers, but it says Johnson “does not place blame for his failure of 
character on anyone but himself.”

The petition includes excerpts from other letters sent to the governor by 
people who came to know Johnson through their prison ministry, volunteer work, 
mentoring and correspondence.

“These friends and supporters are adamant that Don’s faith is strong, and his 
reformation is real,” it reads. Many of the excerpts mention Johnson’s ministry 
to other prisoners. He also has a ministry outside of prison through a radio 
and Internet show that plays recordings he has made on Sunday mornings on 
WNAH-1360 AM, according to the petition.

However, some members of the victim’s family, including Johnson’s estranged 
son, Jason Johnson, wanted the execution to proceed. Jason was 4 when his 
mother was killed. His sister was 7.

According to articles, Jason Johnson made his case to Gov. Lee, saying, “If he 
found redemption, that doesn’t matter. That’s between him and God. His 
forgiveness is to come from the Lord and his redemption is to come from the 
Lord, not the government. The Bible also says, ‘An eye for an eye.’”

He said he would be there at his father’s execution, not because he wanted to 
see him die. “Just to see my family actually have some closure,” he told the 
Tennessean.

Johnson chose not to select a final meal and will be served the same food 
served to the rest of the inmates at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, 
according to the Tennessee Department of Corrections.

(source: WREG news)

*******************

Protesters want Gov. Lee to pray with inmate before execution



A group of protesters marched to the Tennessee Capitol Wednesday to ask 
Governor Bill Lee to pray with an inmate who’s scheduled to be put to death.

The governor confirmed Tuesday that he would not intervene in the execution of 
Donnie Johnson. Protesters have asked Lee to pray with Johnson before he's 
scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday.

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it would not halt the execution, 
declining to take up a legal appeal that questioned the 3 drugs used in 
Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol.

Johnson was sentenced to death for the 1984 murder of his wife, Connie Johnson.

He recently penned a letter to his family , asking for their forgiveness.

(source: WTVF news)

***********************

A look at the history of executions in Tennessee



Convicted killer Don Johnson is scheduled to be executed Thursday night in 
Nashville.

The 68-year-old Memphis man is 1 of almost 60 men and women sitting on 
Tennessee's death row. Johnson is the 1st of several inmates who are scheduled 
to be executed in the Volunteer state over the next 12 months.

While many states have slowed down or delayed setting execution dates because 
of concerns about lethal injection drugs, Tennessee plans to move ahead, with 6 
set at this time.

Johnson is scheduled to die at 7:00 p.m. Thursday evening. Johnson suffocated 
his wife Connie in Memphis more than 30 years ago.

Despite pleas from supporters that Johnson has found God, become a minister, 
and turned his life around, Governor Bill Lee denied Johnsons plea for clemency

Amy Howe with Tennesseans for Alternatives for the Death Penalty is against 
Johnson and other inmates being executed.

"The way the system operates, it's just clearly broken," said Howe.

Capital punishment has existed in Tennessee off and on throughout the state's 
history. While early records are not available, more than 125 people were 
executed in the state between 1916 and 1960. Since 2000, Tennessee has put 9 
people to death. Don Johnson will be the 10th.

"Before 2000, last execution was 1960," said Memphis attorney Robbert Hutton.

Hutton has defended several inmates on death row. He says controversy over 
lethal injection drugs has reduced the number of inmates being executed 
nationally.

In Tennessee, former Governor Phil Bredesen halted all executions in 2007 over 
concerns with how the drugs was administered. It was reinstituted later that 
year with changes to protocol.

Bredesen also commuted 2 death sentences in 2010.

Until last year, it had been almost a decade since an execution took place in 
Tennessee.

While many states have decreased the number of scheduled executions, Tennessee 
is being called "the rocket docket." Johnson is the next in line.

"We've really revved it up in the last few years in a way I think is very 
disturbing, particularly when the country is moving towards abolition," said 
Howe.

Because of concerns with the lethal injection drugs, the last two Tennessee 
inmates executed have opted for the electric chair. Others have filed a lawsuit 
asking for a firing squad.

Johnson will be given lethal injection.

(source: localmemphis.com)








ARKANSAS:

Death row inmates’ first-person stories featured in prison ministry’s tour of 
Episcopal churches



An Arkansas Episcopal congregation’s prison storytelling ministry will embark 
next month on a brief tour, visiting Episcopal churches from Missouri to Texas 
to stage dramatic readings of death row inmates’ 1st-person stories.

Prison Story Project, founded by Kathy McGregor at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church 
in Fayetteville, spent the summer of 2016 helping 11 inmates write about their 
lives and the experience of awaiting execution at the Varner Supermax prison in 
Grady, Arkansas. The inmates’ stories are collected in “On the Row,” a script 
for 6 actors. The script’s incarcerated authors also formed the audience for 
its first performance on Oct. 8, 2016.

6 months later, 2 of the 11 contributors to “On the Row” were executed by the 
state of Arkansas.

The executions drew national attention as part of the state’s rush to carry out 
8 executions in April 2017 before Arkansas’ stock of lethal injection drugs was 
to expire. 4 of the 8 men were put to death, while the other 4 executions were 
postponed amid vocal opposition from anti-death penalty activists, including 
Arkansas Episcopalians. The Episcopal Church has long taken a public stance 
against the death penalty.

Although the executions are referenced at the beginning of “On the Row,” 
McGregor told Episcopal News Service that the inmates’ words are presented 
mostly as they were written, before anyone knew of the state’s plans for 
expedited executions. The script is structured to build a compelling narrative 
arch, and the stories avoid any overt arguments in favor of abolishing the 
death penalty.

“We’re not political about that. We just let the words of the inmates speak for 
themselves,” McGregor said, yet the project seeks to show the humanity behind 
those words in ways that may surprise listeners. “The audiences should come 
prepared to feel changed at the end of it,” she said.

The Episcopal Church’s opposition to capital punishment is well established, 
dating back more than 60 years. General Convention has passed numerous 
resolutions on the issue. A resolution adopted last year calls for all death 
row inmates’ sentences to be reduced, orders letters to that effect be sent to 
all governors of states where the death penalty is legal, and enlists bishops 
in those states to take up greater advocacy.

Prison Story Project makes clear that readings of “On the Row” are presented in 
the context of The Episcopal Church’s ongoing advocacy. It is promoting the 
upcoming tour as “a call to action … for parishes and dioceses to explore and 
understand the reasons for our opposition; the inequity as applied to 
minorities, the poor and those who cannot afford adequate legal representation; 
the contribution to continued violence, and the violation of our Baptismal 
Covenant.”

The number of executions nationwide has dropped steadily since 1999, from a 
high of 98 that year to 20 in 2016, according to the Death Penalty Information 
Center. Arkansas is one of 30 states with the death penalty, including all of 
the states on the Prison Story Project’s four-city tour – Missouri, Kansas, 
Oklahoma and Texas.

The June performances were “the easiest bookings I ever had to do,” McGregor 
said. The host churches, listed here, didn’t hesitate to open their doors for 
readings of “On the Row”:

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Kansas City, Missouri, on June 13

St. James’ Episcopal Church, Wichita, Kansas, on June 14

Christ Church Episcopal, Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 15

Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, Dallas, Texas, on June 16

St. Paul’s in Kansas City has been active in a range of social justice 
ministries that emphasize giving a voice to the voiceless in society, the Rev. 
Stan Runnels said in an interview with ENS, so it seemed natural to host a 
performance of “On the Row” in the church’s parish hall.

“We believe very strongly in the power of the narrative and the power of the 
voice of the marginalized to tell their stories better than anybody else,” said 
Runnels, who is rector at St. Paul’s.

Runnels spent 4 years in the late 1980s as a volunteer chaplain to death row 
inmates in Mississippi. He had just recently been ordained as a priest, and he 
experienced a “deep monasticism” on death row that had a profound effect on his 
own spiritual growth.

“I found death row inmates to be remarkably honest about some of the deep 
questions of life and faith and spirituality,” he said. “Because there’s 
nothing like knowing the day you’re going to die, or the day the state wants to 
kill you, to grapple with the deep questions of life.”

When McGregor founded Prison Story Project in 2012, her initial focus was on 
holding writing workshops at a correctional center for women in northwest 
Arkansas. A second class of inmates in 2013 produced stories that were compiled 
in a script titled “Stories From the Inside Out,” with performances in the 
prison and out in the community.

>From the start, the hope was that writing would allow the inmates to face the 
truth of their lives and find redemption, McGregor said. The “outside” 
performances of the inmates’ words achieved a second goal of giving the public 
a sense for the real lives of those locked away out of sight.

After several subsequent classes, McGregor and her team turned their focus to 
death row. They reached out to officials at Varner in 2015, and after months of 
conversations, they received permission to begin working with death row inmates 
in May 2016.

“We were a little nervous, but it didn’t take long for us to settle in,” 
McGregor said.

Out of 34 inmates on death row at the time, 11 volunteered and were selected 
for the project. McGregor and the project’s creative writing director met with 
the inmates once a month and followed up by email, giving them prompts to begin 
their writing and coaching them on techniques. Write from the heart, McGregor 
told them.

The written compositions were then shared with the project’s theater director, 
Troy Schremmer, who suggested additional prompts to elicit more detail from the 
inmates. When Schremmer had enough material, he compiled the inmates’ writings 
into the narrative that became “On the Row.” 6 actors visited Varner for their 
first staged reading in front of the inmates, who were separated in individual 
cells because they are not allowed direct contact with each other, McGregor 
said. The 1st public performances were held at the end of October 2016 at the 
University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Additional performances were scheduled 
in 2017, but McGregor and her team didn’t learn until February that the state 
planned to execute 8 prisoners in 10 days at the end of April.

4 of the “On the Row” writers were among those scheduled for execution. Jack 
Jones, sentenced for the 1995 rape and strangulation of a 34-year-old woman, 
was executed on April 24. Kenneth Williams was executed April 27 after killing 
a university cheerleader in 1998 and then killing another person after escaping 
from prison in 1999. Last-minute stays of execution were granted for the other 
2 inmates who had worked with McGregor’s team.

The “On the Row” tour in June is backed by several grants, including from the 
Episcopal Evangelism Society. A 2nd tour is planned for October around 
Arkansas. In addition, Prison Story Project will record one of the performances 
for a video that will allow McGregor to hold screenings and question-and-answer 
sessions without requiring actors and directors to join her each time.

After getting to know the inmates personally, McGregor said she is committed to 
sharing their stories to all who will listen, “until they abolish the death 
penalty in every state.”

(source: David Paulsen is an editor and reporter for the Episcopal News 
Service)








WYOMING:

Review rules for using death penalty, rather than abolishing it



The only thing wrong with the death penalty in Wyoming is that it is being 
underutilized.

It could certainly be used as a solution to prison overcrowding. If the prisons 
get full, then those with the most time remaining would … shall we say ... age 
out. It could also be used to fix the problem with people using their 
cellphones at the red lights and then missing half of the green because they 
aren’t looking up. How about using it for those folks that fail to put their 
shopping carts in the cart corrals, or those that fail to pick up after their 
dogs?

James England, Cheyenne)

(source: Letter to the Editor, Wyoming Tribune Eagle)








USA:

Trump: Cop killers should ‘immediately’ get the death penalty



President Trump revived his call for the death penalty to be used on criminals 
who kill police officers.

“The ambushes and attacks on our police must end, and they must end right now,” 
Trump said Wednesday in a speech for the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Day 
service.

“We believe that criminals who murder police officers should immediately, but 
with trial, get the death penalty. But quickly. The trial should go fast. It’s 
got to be fair, but it’s got to go fast,” Trump added.

Trump’s comment is a repeat of his 2016 campaign promise that people who kill 
police officers should face the death penalty.

‘‘I said that one of the first things I'd do in terms of executive order if I 
win will be sign a strong, strong statement that will go out to the country, 
out to the world, that anybody killing policemen, policewomen, police officer, 
anybody killing a police officer, death penalty is going to happen, OK. Can't 
go. We can't let this go," Trump said back in 2015.

While Trump continues to make the promise to give the death penalty to cop 
killers, he has yet to roll out specific proposals on what his administration 
will do to encourage its use.

This is the 3rd time Trump has attended the memorial service for fallen police 
officers, which was held in front of the U.S. Capitol.

(source: Washington Examiner)