12/13/02   State executes first by injection 

KIM CHANDLER News staff writer

 ATMORE .... Anthony Keith Johnson, 46, was put to death at 6 p.m. Thursday night, becoming Alabama's first Death Row inmate to be executed by lethal injection. Johnson was executed for his role in the 1984 slaying of Hartselle jeweler Kenneth Cantrell during a robbery attempt. Cantrell was killed in his home after being shot five times in an exchange of gunfire with men who came to his home under the guise of buying gold.

Johnson, strapped to a gray gurney with his arms outstretched and held in place by black straps and orange buckles, was executed in a clinical looking chamber at Holman Correctional Facility. Just before the drugs were administered at 6 p.m., Johnson made the hand sign for "I love you" in the direction of a friend and family pastor, his witnesses. His final statement was to acknowledge his friends and family. "They know I love them," Johnson said. The prison chaplain knelt at the side of the gurney and prayed while Johnson nodded and appeared to mouth words in unison with the prayer until becoming still.

The Alabama Legislature changed Alabama's primary form of execution to lethal injection.

 

                                                                  Death Chamber At Holman Prison..

 

ALABAMA:

Johnson executed by lethal injection


With a few deep breaths shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, Anthony Keith
Johnson became the first Alabama inmate to die by lethal injection.
Johnson, 46, was convicted of capital murder in the 1984 killing of a
Hartselle jeweler, who was shot when robbers entered his home.
Authorities said Johnson was not the triggerman but was injured by the
victim in an exchange of gunfire.

A Morgan County jury convicted Johnson in 1985, recommending he spend
life in prison without parole. A judge overrode that recommendation and
sentenced Johnson to die in the electric chair. Others who took part in
the robbery have never been charged, according to Johnson's pastor, who
witnessed the execution.

"This is an immense injustice," said the Rev. Thomas Elder, pastor of
Oak
Ridge and Basham United Methodist Churches in Hartselle.

Elder said he did not excuse Johnson for his role in the crime, but
"what
happened after is the most wrong." He warned that those who were
involved
in the crime, as well as the officials who allowed the execution to
move
forward, would face judgment themselves one day.

Prison officials said Johnson had remained hopeful most of the day
Thursday that an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and another to Gov.
Don
Siegelman asking for a reprieve would at least postpone the execution,
but both appeals turned down by 4:45 p.m.

5 media witnesses watched the lethal injection. Elder and Johnson's
friend, George Dudley, also witnessed the execution.

At 5:53 p.m., corrections officers opened the curtain to the execution
chamber where Johnson lay strapped to the gurney, intravenous lines
already in place in each arm. He waved at witnesses and smiled.

Warden Grantt Culliver read the death warrant and asked Johnson if he
understood. He said, "It's clear enough, I guess."

When Culliver asked if Johnson had a last statement, Johnson said only
that he wanted to tell his friends and family he loved them, "but they
know I love them."

Johnson smiled at Elder and Dudley, raising his left hand, forefinger,
little finger and thumb extended in the sign language gesture for "I
love
you."

He lay with this head elevated, and at 5:58 closed his eyes, praying
along with the prison chaplain. At 6 p.m., his breathing slowed, he
shook
his head slightly and moved his jaw as his body went limp. His abdomen
constricted several times, and by 6:01 there was no further movement.
At
6:05, the color drained from his face. He lay motionless for nearly 20
minutes before the curtain was closed.

Physicians placed the time of death at 6:27 p.m.

Culliver said the process took a few minutes longer than anticipated,
but
the prison staff took care to avoid problems.

In July, Alabama legislators switched the state's primary means of
execution from electrocution in a chair nicknamed "Yellow Mama" to
lethal
injection. Besides Nebraska, Alabama was the only state left in the
country that still used electrocution as its primary method of
execution.

Johnson was the 1st to be executed in Holman's remodeled death chamber.
"Johnson said he had turned his life over to Christ; he was prepared
for
whatever happened," Culliver said.

Lynda Lyon Block, 54, was executed on May 10. She was the last person
to
die in the state's electric chair when that method of execution was the
only one called for by Alabama law.

Officials said there are 285 inmates on Alabama's death row.

(source: Associated Press)

**** ALABAMA POISONS ITS FIRST VICTIM!!