Don Johnson has been executed by lethal injection almost 34 years after a Shelby County jury sentenced him to death for the murder of his wife, Connie Johnson. He was pronounced dead at 7:37 p.m.
According to media witnesses, before officials administered the fatal drugs, Johnson said: "I commend my life into your hands. Thy will be done. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen." After the drugs were administered, he sang church hymns — including "Soon and Very Soon" — for approximately two minutes. He then fell silent.
Witnesses also state that Johnson then made a snoring noise, after which Riverbend warden Tony Mays called his name twice. There was no response. Minutes later, witnesses say, Johnson issued a high-pitched gasp.
Johnson is the first Tennessee prisoner to be executed during the term of Gov. Bill Lee, but he is the fourth man put to death at Nashville’s Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in less than a year. Three men were executed in 2018, as the state revived the death penalty after nearly a decade without any executions.
Johnson is just the second of the group to be executed using Tennessee’s three-drug lethal injection protocol. Leading anesthesiologist Dr. David Lubarsky said last year that, based on witness accounts, he concluded “to a reasonable degree of medical certainty” that Billy Ray Irick experienced “torturous” pain when he was killed using the three-drug protocol in August. The Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear a challenge to the protocol earlier this week.
Lee announced Tuesday that he would not intervene to stop the execution “after a prayerful and deliberate consideration.”
Investigators in 1985 said Johnson killed his wife by stuffing a plastic bag down her throat, suffocating her. Then, they said, he and a co-worker named Ronnie McCoy — an inmate on work release at the time — moved her body and left it in a van at a Memphis shopping mall. At trial, Johnson testified that he'd left Connie alone with McCoy and had come back to find her dead. But he also said he'd helped McCoy move her body. In his clemency application, Johnson's attorneys described Connie as "the woman whose death Don caused" and said, "Don was by his own later admission, a liar, a cheat, a con man and a murderer."
Johnson’s plea for mercy focused on his Christian faith and what his lawyers call a "remarkable transformation" over the course of more than 30 years in prison. He was baptized on death row and ordained as an elder in the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Connie’s daughter, Cynthia Vaughn, was among those pleading for the governor to spare Johnson’s life. After reconciling with her stepfather in 2012, she began speaking out on his behalf. As part of his clemency application, she wrote about a pivotal visit with Johnson.
“After I was finished telling him about all the years of pain and agony he had caused, I sat down and heard a voice,” wrote Vaughn. “The voice told me, ‘That's it, let it go.’ The next thing that came out of my mouth changed my life forever. 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.’ ”
Other members of Johnson’s family feel differently. Jason Johnson, Cynthia’s brother, told the Memphis Commercial Appeal that he planned to attend the execution, saying he believed their stepfather is “a con man.” Other members of the family released a joint statement.
“For the family of Donnie Johnson, this tragedy has come to an end for us all. For some, the pain will remain forever. While Donnie Johnson has received a lot of media attention these last few weeks, we hope the victim, Connie Johnson, is never forgotten. Connie was loved and has been missed these many years. Connie had a great laugh and the kindest heart. We pray for peace for her children and for her family. We hope today will give Connie's family some closure they so deeply deserve.”
In a letter released through his attorneys Wednesday — addressed to “all of those and the pain that I have caused. Especially: My Son Jason, My Daughter Cindy, and Connie's family” — Johnson asked for forgiveness:
I would humbly ask for your forgiveness for the pain that I have caused for you and so many others in my life. Yet mere words just do not seem to be sufficient when I speak them! I truly regret my life and what I became in the process. I am and will continue to carry the pain of all the grief that I have caused others to endure and that I have hurt so many others.It is because of the person that I had became that I found that I was not a man but a monster and I was determined this would no longer be acceptable and I sought the Lord for I was at the bottom of the barrel and the only way left for me was up, I remember some of what I had learned and heard in church that the only possibility left for me was to take it to the Lord and I earnestly sought the Lord and still do each day and will continue to until I draw my last breath here on this earth.
It was the life that I had chosen that lead to the darkest day I had ever experienced and not until I took the responsibility for my wife Connie's death could I receive forgiveness and start on that road to healing. The Lord in His mercy has forgiven me and all I can do is pray that you too will find it in your heart to forgive me as well, for there is no way I can fix or take back the person that I had become, and not a day goes by that I do not experience the pain of knowing the grief I had caused so many others to suffer in the process. For as long as I live I will carry with me the knowledge of the things I have done and the grief person, I have caused others to suffer and will continue to pray for the lord to make me a better that I may share some hope and share the love of the Lord which has been shown to me, please forgive me and ask the Lord to help you and comfort you and to ease the pain and something that I could grief you have suffered that I am responsible and have caused. I truly am sorry and if I knew do to ease your pain I would gladly do it.
In Christ Love
May the Lord give you peace,
Don Johnson
