Michael Dewayne Johnson

Case record: Michael Dewayne Johnson

Background

Michael Dewayne Johnson was a death row inmate in Texas.

Johnson had no prior criminal convictions.

The offence

On Sept. 10, 1995, Jeff Wetterman was shot in the face at a convenience store/gas station in Lorena, Texas. The bullet severed his spinal cord. Wetterman had been married just three weeks earlier.

Around Sept. 9, 1995, David Vest went to Michael Johnson's house. While at the house, Vest saw a 9 mm gun sitting on a table.

After Vest returned home, some friends came by in a stolen Cadillac. Vest drove the Cadillac for a while, letting off each passenger in turn until only he was left in the vehicle.

Vest next began heading for his home when he pulled into a parking lot and noticed Johnson talking on a public telephone. Vest motioned for Johnson to get into the car, and the two drove around for a while.

They subsequently went back to Johnson's house, and Johnson briefly went inside. Johnson returned to the stolen Cadillac with the 9 mm gun tucked in his waistband.

After one more stop, Vest and Johnson headed to the coast.

Around Waco, Vest and Johnson were getting low on gas and decided to “make a gas run.” “Making a gas run” was another way of saying they were going to steal some gas by stopping, jumping out and pumping the gas, and then taking off.

After switching positions so that Johnson was driving, they approached two different stations, but decided the circumstances were unfavorable at both.

Around 7:00 a.m. on September 10, they drove to a convenience store/gas station and Vest jumped out and started pumping gasoline. As he was doing so, Jeff Wetterman came outside and began talking to Vest.

Johnson then got out of the car and walked to the rear of the vehicle.

Vest asked Johnson whether he had the gun on him and Johnson lifted his shirt to reveal the weapon. As Vest returned the gas nozzle to the pump, he heard a shot and saw Jeff Wetterman fall.

Vest and Johnson got back into the car and sped away.

The two then proceeded to Corpus Christi, selling the gun along the way to a truck driver for $35.

On their way home later the same day, Johnson sold the gun to a truck driver to get money for gas, drinks and cigarettes.

Investigation

Officers who arrived on the scene after the murder talked to Jeff Wetterman's co-worker.

A co-worker testified that Wetterman had gone to the pumps to tend to a customer when she heard a noise that sounded like a shot. When she looked toward the pumps, she saw Wetterman sitting on the ground and saw a blond-haired man standing by the passenger door of what she later identified to be a Cadillac. She then saw the man get in the passenger side of the vehicle and the two drove off.

Trial

On Nov. 29, 1995, Johnson was indicted in the 54th Judicial District Court of McLennan County, Texas, for the capital offense of murdering Jeff Wetterman while in the course of committing and attempting to commit robbery.

After Johnson pleaded not guilty, a jury found him guilty of the capital offense on May 6, 1996.

On May 8, 1996, after a separate punishment hearing, the court assessed Johnson's punishment at death.

Although Johnson argued at trial that he had an alibi and was at home at the time of the offense, he admitted to a psychologist who examined him after he was convicted that he was in fact at the gas station when the murder occurred.

Johnson told another witness that after he and Vest pulled into a station to get gas when an attendant came out, “he shot Wetterman in the face after he thought Vest had said ‘shoot.’”

After the crime, Larry Reynolds and Johnson were at Vest's house when Johnson told Reynolds this.

A friend testified that after the crime, he and Johnson were at Vest's house when Johnson told him that Johnson and Vest pulled into a station to get gas when an attendant came out. Johnson said that he shot Jeff Wetterman in the face after he thought Vest had said “shoot.”

Appeals

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Johnson's conviction and sentence in an unpublished opinion on Sept. 24, 1997.

The United States Supreme Court denied Johnson's petition for writ of certiorari on May 18, 1998.

Johnson filed a state application for writ of habeas corpus in the trial court. Following a hearing in the trial court, the Court of Criminal Appeals denied the application based on the trial court's findings on March 29, 2000.

Johnson filed a federal habeas petition in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division, on Sept. 13, 2000. On Dec. 18, 2001, the court entered a judgment denying habeas relief.

Johnson sought permission to appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. That court denied Johnson permission to appeal in a published opinion on Sept. 17, 2002.

Johnson subsequently petitioned the United States Supreme Court for certiorari review. The petition was pending before the Court.

Outcome

Michael Dewayne Johnson was sentenced to death for the capital murder of Jeff Wetterman.

Johnson died on October 19, 2006, in his death row cell. The death was described as fatal slashing of his throat and arm just over 15 hours before he was scheduled to die.

Words written in blood were on the wall of his cell.

A prison spokeswoman said that Johnson had used some sort of metal blade or razor to cut his right jugular vein and an artery inside his right elbow.

Johnson was found in a pool of blood and unresponsive at 2:45 a.m. by officers making routine checks on him every 15 minutes at the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The period before that described him as talking to prison staff and awaiting breakfast 15 minutes earlier.

Johnson was taken to a hospital in Livingston, where he was pronounced dead about an hour after he was found.

Johnson was set to die after 6 p.m. Thursday for the 1995 slaying of Jeff Wetterman.

An assistant district attorney in McLennan County, who prosecuted Johnson, said:

"We were prepared to be handling a last-minute filing with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals,"

The same assistant district attorney said he was surprised. He said:

"We were prepared to be handling a last-minute filing with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals," Long said.

Johnson's lawyer asked justices to reconsider their rejection of an earlier appeal. The lawyer said he had worked until 2 a.m. on another round of last-day appeals and had notified state and federal appeals courts they would be filed early Thursday. The lawyer said:

"No point in filing that stuff," "It's just sitting in a chair in my office."

The lawyer also said he had no indication that Johnson was despondent, saying:

"I've never seen him not in good spirits," "I'm not trained in those things, but just from a common person's standpoint, we just never had conversation that he was near the end and 'I'm doomed' and any of that kind of stuff."

In an interview with The Associated Press two weeks earlier, Johnson said he remained optimistic. He said:

"You never know what the courts are going to do,"

Johnson was 29 years old at the time he was found unresponsive.

Aftermath

Routine searches and checks were described for death row inmates in Texas. Officers making routine checks on Johnson every 15 minutes began 36 hours before the scheduled execution. Death row in Texas routinely searched the inmate's cell every 72 hours for contraband.

A piece of metal used was described as having been attached to a small wooden stick resembling a “Popsicle stick.”

An appeal to block the punishment was described as being before the U.S. Supreme Court at the time the lawyer sought reconsideration.

Johnson was described as at least the seventh condemned man in Texas to take his own life since death row reopened in 1974, with no other prisoner killed himself so close to the scheduled execution time.

It was described that inmate David Long was executed two days after he tried to overdose on prescription medication, on Dec. 8, 1999.

It was also described that authorities were not immediately certain where Johnson had obtained the piece of metal that had been attached to the small wooden stick, and it was unclear if the metal was a razor blade or a metal piece that had been sharpened.

Johnson was described as would have been the 22nd Texas inmate executed this year, with the total described as the highest in the nation among states with capital punishment.

As part of the usual procedure, he would have been taken from the Polunsky Unit, where the inmate population included the state's now 380 condemned men, to the Huntsville Unit's death chamber about 45 miles to the west.

Timeline

• Sept. 10, 1995 — Jeff Wetterman was shot in the face at a convenience store/gas station in Lorena, Texas.
• Nov. 29, 1995 — Johnson was indicted in the 54th Judicial District Court of McLennan County, Texas, for the capital offense of murdering Jeff Wetterman while committing and attempting to commit robbery.
• May 6, 1996 — A jury found Johnson guilty of the capital offense.
• May 8, 1996 — After a punishment hearing, the court assessed Johnson's punishment at death.
• Sept. 24, 1997 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Johnson's conviction and sentence in an unpublished opinion.
• May 18, 1998 — The United States Supreme Court denied Johnson's petition for writ of certiorari.
• March 29, 2000 — The Court of Criminal Appeals denied Johnson's state habeas corpus application based on the trial court's findings.
• Sept. 13, 2000 — Johnson filed a federal habeas petition in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division.
• Dec. 18, 2001 — The federal court entered judgment denying habeas relief.
• Sept. 17, 2002 — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied Johnson permission to appeal.
• Oct. 19, 2006 — Johnson fatally slashed his throat and arm in his death row cell; he was found unresponsive at 2:45 a.m. and pronounced dead about an hour later.

Other details

Jeff Wetterman’s co-worker was identified as Lois Bean.

Johnson said he remained optimistic in an Associated Press interview.

Johnson said:

"I never even saw the dude," "(Vest) jumped back into the car and we took off. He hollered: 'Go! Go! Go!"

Johnson was involved with other teenagers in what authorities said was a stolen car ring in Balch Springs when he was arrested for the slaying.

The pair of Vest and Johnson were described as heading to Corpus Christi for a day at the beach to celebrate Vest's 17th birthday.

The case stated that David Vest blamed the shooting on Johnson, took an eight-year prison term in a plea bargain, and testified against his friend. Vest was described as now free.

The prosecution described that Johnson had made admissions to a number of people, and the assistant district attorney said:

"He unquestionably was guilty,"

The text described that Johnson was 18 at the time of the offense.