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On Oct. 19, Texas death row inmate Michael Johnson committed suicide in his cell 18 hours before his scheduled execution. Although his was not the first death row suicide, Johnson’s was the closest to his scheduled execution. Before using a makeshift blade to slit his own throat, he cut open a vein in his arm in order to write a bloody message on his prison wall. According to an unidentified prison official, it read: “I DIDN’T DO IT.” During their last 36 hours alive, prisoners on death row are placed on suicide watch, meaning guards check up on them every 15 minutes to make sure the state can carry out its execution. Rather than be wrongfully executed by the state, Johnson seized a window of opportunity to profess to the world his innocence. Johnson, a 29-year-old white male, was convicted of murdering gas station clerk Jeff Wetterman. On Sept. 10, 1995, Johnson and David Vest, an accomplice and later a trial witness who testified against Johnson, drove a stolen car from Dallas to Corpus Christi. Along the way they entered the gas station where Wetterman worked and began to pump gas. At this time, Wetterman was shot and killed, and both men were arrested and charged with capital murder. Later, Vest’s charge would be dropped to aggravated robbery. After his indictment, Vest signed a confession under oath, stating that he, “knowingly and intentionally caused bodily injury to Jeffrey Michael Wetterman, by shooting him with a handgun.” However, prior to the trial, Vest made a plea bargain with the state’s prosecution, agreeing to testify against Johnson in exchange for eight years in prison for his role in the robbery and murder. The prosecution in Johnson’s trial had knowledge of this confession as early as Johnson’s plea hearing, yet did not disclose this information to Johnson’s counsel at any time during his trial. As the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty observes: “This case demonstrates the ineffective assistance of counsel that many death row inmates face. The State of Texas had Vest’s confession, yet used his testimony against Johnson to gain a conviction. Thus, they presented false testimony to the court. Furthermore, the State illegally withheld Vest’s confession from Johnson’s counsel. Finally, Vest’s testimony was not reliable, since he has stated two different things under oath and he used his testimony to get a better sentence for himself.” Today, David Vest is a free man wheras Michael Johnson is dead. His case provides another compelling reason to abolish the death penalty.
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July - October 2006 
