An inmate was executed by injection early Tuesday for killing a man in a 1983 apartment break-in that netted a camera and $8.
Curtis Lee Johnson, a 38-year-old former laborer with a long criminal record, went to his death after Texas' high court rejected an appeal Monday, as the federal courts did previously. His lawyers decided against further appeals.In a final statement, Johnson thanked his mother and an aunt "for sticking by me" and said he loved them. "Everyone participating in this is forgiven," he added.
Johnson was sentenced to die in 1984 for murdering 25-year-old Murray Dale Sweat. Sweat was shot after he came upon Johnson and an accomplice, Roy Junior Jones, burglarizing his Houston apartment.
Johnson and Jones were arrested a week later after a holdup at a convenience store. The gun used in the robbery was linked to the murder.