Overview
- Johnson, 52, is scheduled for lethal injection at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
- Prosecutors say he beat 24-year-old Brooke Whitaker with a hammer, doused the home with gasoline, and set a fire that also killed her 7-month-old daughter, Kya.
- The Pardon and Parole Board voted 5-0 in April to deny clemency after years of failed appeals that alleged an illegal arrest, a coerced confession, and ineffective trial counsel.
- At the clemency hearing, Johnson apologized and said he had changed, while Whitaker’s relatives urged the state to proceed for a sense of closure.
- If the execution happens, it would be the second in Oklahoma this year and the 11th in the United States.