Matthew Lee Johnson was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas, exactly 13 years after he set a 76-year-old store clerk on fire during a robbery, a crime that shocked the state and devastated the victim’s family.
At a Glance
- Johnson was executed May 20, 2025—13 years after murdering clerk Nancy Harris
- Harris was doused in lighter fluid and burned during a robbery in Garland, Texas
- Johnson expressed remorse and asked the family for forgiveness before his execution
- The execution marked Texas’ fourth in 2025 and the 18th in the U.S. this year
- No last-minute appeals were filed; clemency had been denied by Texas authorities
A Crime That Stunned a Community
On the morning of May 20, 2012, Matthew Johnson entered a Garland convenience store, demanded money from Nancy Harris, and then set her ablaze using lighter fluid. Though severely burned, Harris managed to tell police what had happened before succumbing to her injuries five days later in a Dallas hospital.
Johnson, who confessed shortly after his arrest, claimed to be under the influence of crack cocaine at the time of the crime. The brutal nature of the killing and Harris’s suffering made it a high-profile case in Texas courts.
Watch a report: Texas Man Executed for Setting Clerk on Fire.
Final Words and Execution
On May 20, 2025, Johnson was executed at the Huntsville Unit using a single dose of pentobarbital. He was pronounced dead at 6:53 p.m. local time. In his final statement, Johnson turned to Harris’s family and said, “I please ask for your forgiveness. I never meant to hurt her,” adding, “I pray that she’s the first person I see when I open my eyes and I spend eternity with.”
Officials noted no last-minute appeals were filed. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had previously denied Johnson’s request for clemency.
Context Within U.S. Death Penalty Trends
Johnson’s execution was the second carried out in the U.S. that day, following the execution of Benjamin Ritchie in Indiana for the 2000 murder of a police officer. It marked Texas’s fourth execution in 2025 and the 18th nationally this year.
The lethal injection was administered at the Huntsville Unit, the oldest prison in Texas and home to the state’s execution chamber.
As Texas continues to enforce capital punishment at a pace unmatched by most states, the Johnson case stands as a sobering reminder of both the enduring use of the death penalty and the devastating consequences of violent crime.
