A death row inmate issued a chilling final request to his victim’s family shortly before he was executed earlier this week (May 20), in a case that continues.
To raise questions about mental health care in correctional facilities, legal appeals, and end-of-life ethics in the criminal justice system.
Matthew Lee Johnson was sentenced to death after he splashed 76-year-old Nancy Harris with lighter fluid and set her on fire during a robbery at a convenience store in Texas back in 2012.
Harris, a senior citizen and grandmother, would later become a central figure in advocacy discussions around elder abuse laws, hospital burn unit care,
And geriatric trauma insurance coverage. Court documents state Johnson had poured the lighter fluid on Harris before insisting she open the till.
The death row inmate set her alight before fleeing. Harris – a mother and grandmother – was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was treated for severe third-degree burns, but sadly died.
