Texas inmate to be executed for killing woman he set on fire inside Garland store

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Death row inmate Matthew Johnson is scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening for killing a woman he set on fire during a robbery in 2012 in what will be Texas’ fourth execution this year.

Johnson was arrested for attacking 76-year-old Nancy Harris a little over an hour after he walked into a Garland convenience store with a bottle filled with what was later determined to be charcoal lighter fluid and a cigarette lighter. Johnson dumped the lighter fluid onto Harris and forced her to open the store’s register before setting her on fire, according to court documents. Harris died five days later from her wounds, and Johnson admitted to police that he had set her on fire.

In testimony during his sentencing, Johnson said he had been under the influence of drugs and alcohol during the robbery and used the lighter fluid to scare Harris but did not intend to kill her. During sentencing, prosecutors pointed to Johnson’s previous criminal history and “bad acts,” while Johnson’s family and employers testified to his positive role as a father and struggle with drug abuse.

Johnson has filed several appeals that have failed since his sentence, including with the United States Supreme Court, which denied hearing his case in 2024. Most recently, Johnson filed an appeal for a stay of execution with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office unfairly influenced his death sentence by suggesting execution dates to the court. The court denied the appeal on Sunday.

If no stays are granted, Johnson, 49, will be the fourth man executed by the state in 2025. Two other high-profile cases in Texas may determine whether two more men on death row receive execution dates. Ruben Gutierrez is currently awaiting a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court expected to be delivered soon on whether prosecutors are constitutionally obligated to test DNA evidence he says will exonerate him.

Robert Roberson, whose guilt over the 2002 death of his daughter has been challenged because of the prosecution’s use of junk science for the conviction and harshly contested by state lawmakers, is also currently awaiting a ruling on a new appeal filed in February. Legislators last year halted his execution in an unprecedented and bipartisan move by subpoenaing Roberson four days after he was scheduled to die, leading to a legal dispute that paused the execution.

On Nov. 15, the state got the go-ahead to reschedule Roberson’s execution after the Texas Supreme Court found that a legislative committee’s authority to compel testimony through a subpoena could not be used to override the executive branch’s authority to carry out Roberson’s death sentence as scheduled. A new date has yet to be set as his appeal is processed.

Currently, there are no other executions scheduled in Texas. The state’s death row is at its lowest capacity since 1984, with 172 people including Johnson. If no other executions in Texas are carried out, 2025 will be the seventh consecutive year in which the state has carried out less than 10 executions, part of a national trend of decreased death penalty sentencing.

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