Johnnie Bernal

Timeline

• Aug. 19, 1994 — Johnnie Bernal spent the evening cruising Northwest Houston with 4 friends, sniffing paint and looking for girls.
• Just after midnight (Aug. 19, 1994) — A white-topped blue Buick Regal pulled alongside three boys and a girl outside Nick's Drive-In; Bernal’s group was confronted with a pistol demand.
• Aug. 19, 1994 — Lee Dilley, 19, was shot multiple times during the robbery; he died instantly.
• 12 days later (after Aug. 19, 1994) — Houston police found Bernal at home and found a pistol and bullets in his nightstand drawer.
• July 12, 1995 — Johnnie Bernal was sentenced to death.
• 2005 — Johnnie Bernal’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison.
• 2 weeks before March 16, 2005 — The U.S. Supreme Court banned the execution of convicts who committed their crimes before they turned 18, which spared Bernal’s life.

Background

Johnnie Bernal was convicted of killing college student Lee Dilley, 19, during a botched robbery. Bernal considered himself “a lucky man” because his execution was spared following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that banned the execution of convicts who committed their crimes before they turned 18. Bernal was 1 day short of his 18th birthday the night Dilley was gunned down. He later described his current goal as getting out completely.

Bernal was known as the “Puppet” by the neighborhood gang he hung out with, the Northwest Mafia. He was described as a tall, quiet 10th-grade dropout.

The offence

On the night of Aug. 19, 1994, Bernal spent the evening cruising Northwest Houston with 4 friends, sniffing paint and looking for girls. Shortly after midnight, their white-topped blue Buick Regal pulled up alongside three boys and a girl standing outside Nick's Drive-In, a neighborhood ice house.

A car occupant pointed a pistol out the window and demanded their money. The girl ran, and then the boys ran. Four shots rang out. One shot hit Dilley’s left earlobe, another punctured his back and pierced his heart. Dilley died instantly.

Bernal later said:

"We were just going to mess with them, that's all,"

Bernal later said:

"I made it by one day, I know"

Bernal later said:

"My goal is one day to get out of here"

Investigation

After the killing, Bernal went home. Houston police found him 12 days later, and police found a pistol and bullets in his nightstand drawer. Ballistics tests introduced at his trial linked the gun to the murder.

Arrest

Houston police found Johnnie Bernal at home 12 days after the killing.

Trial

Johnnie Bernal was found guilty and sentenced to death. Bernal insisted that he was innocent and that one of his friends in the back seat, a 14-year-old boy, leaned across him with a pistol and fired the fatal shots.

The 14-year-old boy was on probation for weapons possession and evading arrest, and he was never charged in the attack. Neither were 2 others.

The driver was serving a 35-year sentence for aggravated robbery.

Sentencing

On July 12, 1995, Johnnie Bernal was sentenced to death. He later was on death row at the Polunsky Unit outside Livingston and expected to depart for regular prison.

In 2005, Bernal’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison.

The U.S. Supreme Court drew a legal line at age 18 between criminals too young to fully comprehend their actions and those older than 18.

Bernal later said:

"I was just a kid. I didn't know. I was hanging with the wrong crowd,"

Bernal later said:

"I've grown up. . .. I've found God. . . . I pray every day that (Lee Dilley) is in peace. I can never take back what happened, even though I wish I could."

Appeals

Bernal said his focus was on his appeal and on getting out completely.

He said:

"Now, my focus is going to be on my appeal, on getting out - completely out."

Outcome

The U.S. Supreme Court decision spared Bernal’s life because his crimes were committed before he turned 18. The decision freed Bernal and 28 other convicted killers from Texas’ death row, including Robert Springsteen IV, who was convicted in Austin's 1991 yogurt shop murders.

Aftermath

A legislative debate in Texas focused on whether the Legislature should enact a law allowing life without parole to keep underage capital killers from one day becoming eligible to leave prison. The debate began when the Senate Criminal Justice Committee took up Senate Bill 60, which would add life without parole as a third sentencing alternative for capital crimes. It was stated that, at present, juries had to decide between execution and life with the possibility of parole.

State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, described himself as a supporter of the death penalty and was identified as the sponsor of SB 60. Lucio said:

"Is there a danger to the public? Yes. Has this (Supreme Court) decision left a loophole in our law? Yes,"

Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee, said the issue promised to be:

"one of the most serious issues debated this session."

Four related bills were pending in the Texas House, including one that would keep the choices to 2: death and life without parole.

Dianne Clements of the Houston-based victims’ advocacy group Justice for All said:

"There's no finality in all this unless there's an execution,"

Lucio later warned:

"The way it is now, with the Supreme Court ruling in effect, someone on death row could eventually walk out of prison,"

Lucio said:

"That shouldn't happen."

Paula Kurland, a longtime advocate from Humble, said she would testify in favor of Lucio’s bill. Kurland said:

"It would be truth in sentencing,"

Kurland said:

"People should know that life is life. Sometimes lifeis a death sentence, because (offenders) have to live with their crime for the rest of their life."

Kurland’s daughter, Mitzi Johnson Nalley, 21, was stabbed to death in a brutal 1986 attack at a North Austin apartment. The attack also killed Nalley’s roommate, Kelly Joan Farquhar, and seriously injured a friend who tried to come to her assistance. It was stated that Jonathan Nobles was executed in 1998 for those crimes.

Bernal was described as becoming a national poster boy for critics of the high court's decision. The article described that he would soon depart for a regular prison and the possibility of parole after serving 40 years.