Revenge, jealousy and weapons: the scary killings for which two American criminals were executed with a lethal injection

A man from Tennessee who he killed his wife and another from Alabama who killed four people They were executed Thursday by lethal injection in the United States.

Donnie Edward Johnson, 68, was convicted in 1984 of the murder of his wife Connie Johnson in Memphis, Tennessee by placing a garbage bag plastic in his throat and smother him.

Michael Brandon Samra, 41 years old, was sentenced in 1998 for his participation in the murders in 1997 in Pelham, Alabama, Duke's girlfriend Randy Duke, Dedra Mims Hunt, and Hunt's six- and seven-year-old daughters.

Donnie, the man who murdered his wife

According to court records, Johnson allegedly murdered his 30-year-old wife on December 8, 1984 in the offices of the company where she was working in Memphis, Tenn., Because she had filed for divorce after seven years of marriage . .

Johnson put a large trash bag in his wife's mouth and caused the drowned death.

At first, Johnson culpó of homicide to the prisoner Ronnie McCoy, that he had picked up from jail that morning to work for him. According to Johnson, McCoy killed him and he helped clean and dispose of the body because he was afraid of the prisoner.

However, during the trial, it was shown that what it was just the opposite: McCoy helped Johnson clean up the crime scene and get rid of the body, fearing to be charged with the murder.

Both loaded the body from Conney Johnson in a vehicle they left in a Memphis mall.

With time, Johnson has badumed his guilt and he devoted his jail years to religion, which is why his lawyers implored Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute his client's execution to life imprisonment.

The person executed today has waived his right to request a last dinner and asked that they give it to the homeless.

Johnson was inspired by another prisoner – Philip Workman – executed in Tennessee in 2007 and who asked the state to pizza at a foundation homeless people.

Samra and Duke: dangerous friendships

The crimes for which Samra was executed occurred on March 22, 1997, when his 16-year-old Duke Duke was he wanted to avenge his fatherRandy Duke, after a fight for not lending his truck.

According to court records in the case, Duke and Samra, who was 19, they went to the family home of the Dukes accompanied by two other friends waiting outside.

They went with the intention of kill everyone Duke and Samra first shot Randy Duke and his fiancée Debra Hunt.

To Hunt's daughters, Chelsea Marie and Chelisa Nicole, aged 7 and 6 respectively, They cut their throats with kitchen knives because they were short of ammo.

Although both were sentenced to death for these crimes in 2005 Justice overturns Duke's sentence because he was a minor at the time of the crime, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Samra's lawyers filed various appeals, claiming that his client's 19-year-old at the time had also made his execution unconstitutional, but the courts rejected the defense.

Samra's last words were: "I would like to thank Jesus for all that he has done for me ".

Samra was the second prisoner executed this year in Alabama and the sixth in the whole country. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty by the Supreme Court four decades ago, 1,496 prisoners have been executed in the United States, including 65 in Alabama.