{"id":54661,"date":"2025-05-20T22:49:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T02:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/?p=54661"},"modified":"2025-05-20T22:49:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T02:49:19","slug":"texas-executes-man-who-set-elderly-store-clerk-on-fire-during-2012-robbery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/texas-executes-man-who-set-elderly-store-clerk-on-fire-during-2012-robbery\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas executes man who set elderly store clerk on fire during 2012 robbery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A Texas inmate convicted of setting a 76-year-old grandmother on fire during a robbery in Garland has been executed, state officials confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matthew Lee Johnson, 49, was pronounced dead at 6:53 p.m. on Tuesday at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville. The execution was carried out by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice using a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Johnson was sentenced to death in 2013 for the murder of Nancy Harris, a retired elementary school teacher and grandmother who was working at a Garland convenience store when she was attacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prosecutors said Johnson entered the store in May 2012, forced Harris to open the cash register, and stole a few items\u2014including her rings, a lighter, two packs of cigarettes, and a bag of candy. He then doused her with bleach and set her on fire using a lighter he had brought with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Harris suffered severe burns over most of her body and died five days later in the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMatthew Johnson has been executed and received the just punishment for the senseless, horrifying murder of Nancy Harris,\u201d Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasattorneygeneral.gov\/news\/releases\/attorney-general-ken-paxton-announces-execution-man-who-burned-76-year-old-grandmother-death-gas\">statement<\/a>. \u201cWhile nothing can restore the innocent life that was taken, he will never be able to hurt anyone again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his final moments, Johnson turned toward Harris\u2019 family members, who were watching through a nearby window, and offered an apology, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/texas-man-executed-13-years-day-store-robbery-fatally-set-clerk-fire-rcna208125\">NBC News<\/a>. \u201cAs I look at each one of you, I can see her on that day,\u201d he said. \u201cI please ask for your forgiveness. I never meant to hurt her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added, \u201cI pray that she\u2019s the first person I see when I open my eyes and I spend eternity with.\u201d Johnson also expressed remorse to his wife and daughters, saying he had made \u201cwrong choices\u201d and now accepted the consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three of Harris\u2019 sons, along with two daughters-in-law and a granddaughter, were present for the execution but declined to speak to reporters afterward, NBC News reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Attorney General Paxton said his office worked to uphold Johnson\u2019s death sentence throughout the appeals process. \u201cVicious criminals must be held responsible for their actions,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I will never stop working to ensure that justice is done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Texas inmate convicted of setting a 76-year-old grandmother on fire during a robbery in Garland has been executed, state officials confirmed. Matthew Lee Johnson, 49, was pronounced dead at 6:53 p.m. on Tuesday at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville. The execution was carried out by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice using a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":54667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2],"tags":[3316,2697,256,151],"class_list":["post-54661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal","category-usnews","tag-garland-texas","tag-state-executions","tag-texas","tag-united-states"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Texas executes man who set elderly store clerk on fire during 2012 robbery - BNO News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/texas-executes-man-who-set-elderly-store-clerk-on-fire-during-2012-robbery\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texas executes man who set elderly store clerk on fire during 2012 robbery - BNO News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Texas inmate convicted of setting a 76-year-old grandmother on fire during a robbery in Garland has been executed, state officials confirmed. Matthew Lee Johnson, 49, was pronounced dead at 6:53 p.m. on Tuesday at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville. 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