Virginia gang killer executed by US despite Covid infection

HIGH EARTH, Ind. – The U.S. government on Thursday executed a drug trafficker for his involvement in a series of murders in the Virginia capital in 1992, despite claims by his lawyers that the fatal injection would cause excruciating pain due to lung damage to his recent Covid -19 infection.

Corey Johnson, 52, was the 12th inmate to be put to death at the Terre Haute, Indiana federal prison complex since the Trump administration resumed federal executions after a 17-year hiatus.

He was pronounced dead at 11:34 p.m.

Johnson’s execution and the scheduled execution of Dustin Higgs on Friday are the last before next week’s inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, who opposes the federal death penalty and has signaled he will end his use. Both inmates contracted Covid-19 and were granted temporary reprieve this week for that reason, only for higher courts to allow the lethal injections to proceed.

Lawyers have previously argued that the lethal injections of pentobarbital cause flash pulmonary edema, where the fluid quickly fills the lungs, causing sensations close to drowning. The new claim was that fluid would immediately rush into inmates’ Covid-damaged lungs while they were still conscious.

Johnson was involved in one of the worst explosions of gang violence Richmond has ever seen, with 11 people killed in 45 days. He and two other members of the Newtowne gang have been sentenced to death under a federal law that targets large-scale drug traffickers.

In their petition for clemency, Johnson’s lawyers called on President Donald Trump to commute his death sentence to life in prison. They described a traumatic childhood in which he was physically abused by his addicted mother and boyfriends, abandoned at the age of 13, and then dragged between residential and institutional settings until he was old enough. foster care system. They cited numerous childhood IQ tests discovered after his conviction that put him in the category of mentally disabled and say tests during his time in prison show he can only read and write at the level of the ‘elementary School.

In a closing statement, Johnson said he was “sorry for my crimes” and said he wanted the victims called back. He said the pizza and strawberry shake he ate and drank before the performance “were wonderful” but he didn’t get the donuts he wanted. He also thanked his minister and his lawyer.

“I’m fine,” he said. “I am at peace.”

In a statement, Johnson’s lawyers said the government executed a person “with an intellectual disability, in flagrant violation of the Constitution and federal law” and vehemently denied that he had the mental capacity to be a so-called mainstay of drugs.

“The government’s arbitrary rush to execute Mr Johnson, who was categorically ineligible for execution because of his severe disabilities, was based on technical aspects of the proceedings rather than a serious dispute that he was intellectually disabled,” said said lawyers, Donald Salzman and Ronald Tabak.

The government-filed documents spelled Johnson’s name “Cory,” but his lawyers say he spells it “Corey.”

Richard Benedict, who was Johnson’s special education teacher at a New York City school for emotionally challenged children, said Johnson was hyperactive, anxious and read and write at a second or third grade level when he was 16. and 17 years old.

“I had to get someone to go with him to the bathroom because he just couldn’t get back to the classroom,” Benedict said.

Prosecutors, however, said Johnson had not shown he was mentally disabled.

“While rejecting the fact that he suffers from an intellectual disability which prevents him from sentencing to death, the courts have repeatedly and correctly concluded that Johnson’s seven murders were intended to advance his drug trafficking and n ‘were not impulsive acts on the part of a person incapable of rendering calculated judgments, and therefore eligible for the death penalty,’ prosecutors say in court documents.

A defense psychologist testified during the trial that Johnson’s IQ was measured at 77, above the threshold of 75 then necessary to qualify a person with intellectual disability. Johnson’s appeal attorneys say the psychologist was not an expert on intellectual disability and relied on standards that are now outdated.

CT Woody Jr., the senior homicide detective on the case, said during his questioning of Johnson, he denied any involvement in the murders and said the police were trying to trick him because of the lies people were telling about her.

“It didn’t seem to me that he had any mental issues at all except his meanness and no respect for human life – none at all,” Woody said.

Former US Assistant District Attorney Howard Vick Jr., one of the prosecutors in the case, said the violence by Johnson and his gang mates was unparalleled at the time. One of the gang’s victims was stabbed 85 times and another was shot 16 times. Johnson was convicted of being the gunman in a triple murder and participating in four other capital murders, including shooting a rival drug dealer 15 times.

“The horror of the crimes, the utter senselessness of the crimes, the crimes themselves warranted seeking the death penalty in this case,” said Vick.

In his petition for clemency, Johnson’s lawyers said he had repeatedly expressed “genuine remorse” for his crimes.

“I’m sorry for the large number of people who have died, you know, and there’s a lot about us, and I feel like we’re not angels,” he said during his hearing. sentencing. He also spoke with a group of students present in the courtroom that day and urged them not to commit crimes or to make the mistakes he had made in his life.