Death Row Inmate To Executioner: Beat You To It

Huntsville death row inmate Michael Dewayne Johnson, scheduled to die tonight for his role in the 1995 slaying of Waco convenience store clerk Jeff Wetterman, declined to be executed: instead, he killed himself.

Johnson was found unresponsive in a pool of blood around 2:45 AM, by a guard making one of the quarter-hourly checks requisite for those about to be executed. Johnson wrote words on the wall in his own blood after slashing his judular and an artery in his arm with a makeshift knife, but Department of Corrections Officials declined to comment on their content, citing the fact that the death is still under investigation.

Johnson still had appeals pending with the US Supreme Court--his attorney was set to file another round of paperwork today. The case is questionable one: some claim that Johnson's partner in crime, David Vest, signed a confession admitting to pulling the trigger before Johnson even went to trial.

Four other inmates are scheduled to die in Texas within the next month.