Johnson Executed for Sizemore Murder in Albany

Johnson’s execution is the fourth in Georgia this year and is expected to be quickly followed by six more over the next few weeks and months as issues around the lethal injection drug have been resolved and an aging death row population exhausts all appeals. Johnson was convicted of a 1994 rape and murder and sentenced to death. “It’s time to end the death penalty once and for all”.

Marcus Ray Johnson is scheduled to die at 7 p.m. Thursday at the state prison in Jackson.

With the decision of the board still pending, Johnson’s attorney, Brian Kammer, filed a second writ of habeas corpus and a petition for a stay of execution in the Superior Court of Butts County.

The department said there have been 57 men and one woman executed in Georgia since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1973.

The state Supreme Court on Thursday denied Johnson’s motion to delay the execution.

Sizemore and Johnson met at an Albany nightclub the night of March 23, 1994, and witnesses saw them kissing and drinking heavily.

Evidence at trial indicated that Johnson and Sizemore left Fundamentals together and authorities say they were seen walking toward 16th Avenue.

Johnson told investigators he and Sizemore had sex in a grassy vacant lot and that he then “kind of lost it” and punched her in the face during an argument. Prosecutors said defense theories had been rejected by the courts and there was no doubt Johnson killed Sizemore.

Sizemore’s blood was found on Johnson’s jacket, and he had scratches on his hands, arms and neck, the synopsis said. She had been stabbed 41 times with a small, tiresome knife and sexually assaulted with a pecan tree branch, prosecutors said.

Johnson, 50, had asked for a six-pack of beer for his last meal but that request was turned down because, the Department of Corrections said, alcohol is “contraband” inside a prison.