Johnson was sentenced to death after being convicted in 1992 of killing seven people as part of the Virginia drug trade. The weeks before his execution were marked by a tense legal battle after he contracted Covid-19 while on the underworld.
In his final statement, Johnson apologized for his crimes and told the families of the victims that he hoped they would find peace. He also thanked the staff at the prison, the chaplain of the prison, his minister and his legal team.
“I would have said before that I was sorry, but I did not know how. I hope you will find peace,” he said in a statement issued by his lawyers. “For my family, I have always loved you, and your love really made me. On the street I was looking for shortcuts, had some good role models, I watched, I was blind and stupid. I am not the same man as me. ‘
The Supreme Court on Thursday denied the attempt of Johnson’s legal team, which relies on claims of intellectual disability and his Covid-19 diagnosis, arguing that his infection accompanied by a lethal injection would be a cruel and unusual punishment.
The appeal came after an appeals court on Wednesday upheld a lower court decision to stay the execution of Johnson and another inmate who contracted the virus, Dustin Higgs, whose execution would take place Friday.
“The government must stop executing Corey Johnson while he is still recovering from the COVID-19 infection he contracted as a result of the government’s own irresponsibility in carrying out executions during the pandemic,” said Donald Salzman, a Johnson’s attorney said in a statement earlier Thursday.
“There is no principled reason not to wait until the order expires in March to determine whether Johnson’s lungs healed sufficiently not to suffer severe pain during the execution.”
After Johnson’s death, his legal team lamented his passing in a statement saying he should never have been executed.
“We loved Corey Johnson, and we knew him as a gentle soul who never broke a rule in prison, and despite his limitations tried to pass the GED. His family and loved ones are in our hearts,” “said his lawyers. “We also want to say that the fact that Corey Johnson should never have been executed can reduce the pain and loss that the families of the victims are experiencing in this case. We wish them peace and healing.”
Johnson’s legal team also said he had an IQ of 69, which would be lower than one standard offered by the Supreme Court as a guideline for states that weigh or such an implementation of the cruel and unusual penal standards of the Constitution completed.
“He is a person with a mental disability who cannot be constitutionally executed,” Salzman argued Thursday morning. “The government should cancel Corey’s execution date, or President Trump should pardon him.”
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Johnson and several co-conspirators were partners in a “major drug-dealing conspiracy” between 1989 and 1992 in Richmond, Virginia.
As part of their operation, the department said, Johnson killed seven people due to ‘alleged fight or rivalry in the drug trade’ – Peyton Johnson, Louis Johnson, Bobby Long, Dorothy Armstrong, Anthony Carter, Linwood Chiles and Curtis Thorne. Johnson said each name in his final statement, saying, “I want these names to be remembered.”
Johnson was convicted in 1993 of seven counts of capital murder, while the U.S. District Court unanimously recommended seven death sentences to the jury in the eastern district of Virginia.
Thursday’s execution, six days before President Joe Biden’s election, coincides with a new push by more than three dozen members of Congress that Biden’s incoming government should prioritize the abolition of the death penalty in all jurisdictions.
While Biden has pledged to abolish the federal death penalty and to urge states to stop seeking death sentences as part of its criminal justice plan, 40 members of Congress want to ensure that the practice on its first day in the amp ends.
As part of his last words, Johnson mentioned his last meal.
“The pizza and strawberry shake were great, but I didn’t get the jelly-filled donuts I ordered,” he said. ‘What’s up with that? That needs to be fixed. ‘
This story was updated with Johnson’s final statement and a statement from his attorneys.