Execution Report: Matthew Johnson

Matthew Johnson, 49, was executed by lethal injection on 20 May 2025 in Huntsville, Texas for the robbery and murder of a convenience store clerk.

On Sunday, 20 May 2012, Nancy Harris, 76, opened the convenience store in Garland where she had been a longtime employee. A few minutes later, Johnson, then 36, walked in carrying a cigarette lighter and a bottle of lighter fluid. The store's cameras showed that Johnson walked around the counter to the employees-only area where Harris was standing. He poured the fluid over Harris's head, demanded money, and stood immediately behind her as she attempted to open the cash register.

While Harris struggled with the cash register, Johnson took two packages of cigarettes from an overhead dispenser and two lighters from a display on the counter. He also attempted to remove Harris's ring. When it did not come off, he licked his fingers and, using the saliva to lubricate Harris's finger, worked the ring off.

When Harris opened the register, Johnson moved in front of her, put the cash tray on the counter, and took all of the currency and some of the coins.

The cameras next show something out of frame bursting into flames. Harris is then seen running from behind the counter to a nearby sink, on fire from her shoulders up. She leaned over the sink and attempted to extinguish the flames. When that attempt failed, she removed her shirt and dropped it on the floor. Her bra was still burning. As she leaned over the sink again, the flames from her still-burning shirt ignited her pants leg. Meanwhile, Johnson calmly walked over to a display rack near the front door, selected some candy, and put it in his pockets. He then walked out of the store.

Police officer Billey Coffey testified that he and another officer, Anthony Simon, were near the store at the time of the offense. When they saw flames and movement inside the store, they rushed to investigate. They reached the parking lot just as Harris, who was still on fire, made her way out through the front door, screaming for help. Coffey put out the flames by spraying Harris with a fire extinguisher. Harris told Officer Simon that a heavy-set black man wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt robbed her and poured liquid on her.

William Crews, a Garland firefighter and paramedic, testified that he treated Harris at the scene after a police officer flagged down his ambulance. He observed first, second, and third-degree burns on Harris's face, shoulders, abdomen, upper arms, and legs. She was in a lot of pain, very worried, and repeating, "Help me, help me, please." She remained conscious on the way to the hospital.

Upon arrival at Parkland Hospital's emergency room, Harris was intubated and placed on a ventilator because her airway was swollen and constricted from the burns. Before she was intubated, she told Officer Larry Wilson that a heavy-set black man with short dark hair and a chubby face entered the store, demanded and took money from her, poured a liquid on her, and set her on fire.

The medical team at the hospital advised Harris's family that she sustained burns over forty percent of her body and that given her age and the extent of her injuries, she would not survive. She was removed from life support, in accordance with her previously executed living will and do-not-resuscitate directive. She died on 25 May. The medical examiner determined that her death was a homicide by burning.

Officer Rafael Perez spotted Johnson in the neighborhood at about 8:00 a.m. on the day of the crime and caught him after a foot chase. Officer Coffey assisted Perez with handcuffing him. Johnson said, "What took you so long? Y'all are getting slow." A search of his pockets yielded Harris's ring, a used cigarette lighter, two new lighters, $76 in currency, and some coins.

The manager of the convenience store subsequently testified that the cash register would have contained about $80 when Harris opened the store.

Jim Medley testified that he lived about a half a block from the convenience store, across an alley. At about 7:30 a.m., he went outside to find out why his dog was barking. He saw police cars and heard sirens. He found the gate to his rear driveway open and noticed that his garbage can had been moved. He saw an opened cigarette pack missing two cigarettes and a broken, unlit cigarette lying in his driveway. When he put these items in his garbage can, he saw an unfamiliar short-sleeved t-shirt inside the receptacle. About two houses away, he saw a shirtless black man pushing a bicycle in the opposite direction.

Ken Marecle testified that between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m., his daughter saw a man on their back porch. He looked outside and observed the man going around toward the front of the house. He cracked open the front door and saw a man wearing pants and glasses but no shirt. The man repeatedly said that he needed help. He then tried to force his way into Marecle's house. Marecle shoved him back, and the two men struggled in the courtyard. The man pushed Marecle to the ground, took his glasses, and ran away. In court, Marecle identified the man as Johnson.

Lawrence Denson testified that between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m., Denson saw a man trying to enter the side gate to his property. When Denson confronted him, the man held his arms out and said, "Man, I'm in a bad way." Denson told him to "get his bad way out of my yard." The man continued to approach, but fled when another man, Denson's friend, walked outside. In court, Denson identified the man as Johnson.

Videotape from Officer Coffey's squad car was played in court to show that Johnson freely conversed with the officers on his way to the police station and that he did not appear to be drunk or impaired. Ken Marecle and Lawrence Denson also testified that Johnson did not appear to them to have been using alcohol.

Johnson had previous convictions for theft, aggravated assault, robbery, evading arrest, violating probation, and other offenses too numerous and varied to even summarize. He did have a prior prison record.

The defense did not call any witnesses for the guilt-innocence phase of the trial. During the punishment phase, Johnson testified that he had been drinking and smoking crack the night before Harris's murder. He took a Xanax at 4:00 a.m. that morning and drank a half bottle of wine at about 6:00 a.m. He said that he entered the convenience store to get some money to buy more crack. He found a plastic bottle and put some lighter fluid in it with the intention of pouring on his victim as a scare tactic. He said that after he doused Harris and while he was robbing her, she kept moving toward him and reaching across him. He told her to stand back and struck the lighter "once to try to scare her, but that didn't stop her." He continued striking the lighter, "hoping that she would move back," but she did not.

Johnson stated that after Harris caught fire, he realized he "had done a bad thing" and needed to leave. He said it did not occur to him to help her. He said he removed his t-shirt and left it in a trash can because it was sweaty and dirty. He stole a bicycle, rode it until the chain came off, and left it on a side street. He acknowledged having a "tussle" with Marecle.

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