Overview
- Johnson, pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. CT Thursday, received a three-drug lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, officials said.
- Prosecutors said he struck 24-year-old Brooke Whitaker in the head with a claw hammer, then doused her and the Tulsa home with gasoline and set a fire that killed her and 7-month-old Kya.
- A Tulsa County jury convicted him in 2009 of two counts of first-degree murder and arson, and no last-minute U.S. Supreme Court filing was made to halt the execution.
- Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board voted 5–0 in April to deny clemency after defense claims of rehabilitation and mental illness, while Whitaker’s family urged that the sentence be carried out.
- UPI and other outlets reported the execution as Oklahoma’s second this year and the 11th in the United States in 2026, placing the case in the broader use of capital punishment.