Johnson, 52, was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. Thursday after Oklahoma carried out the lethal injection protocol, prison officials said. The state used a three-drug sequence at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, following Johnson’s conviction and death sentence in a case centered on the deaths of Brooke Whitaker and her infant daughter, Kya, in June 2007.
Officials said Johnson was sentenced to death for killing Whitaker, 24, and Kya, who was 7 months old. Prosecutors said the attack began at Whitaker’s home in Tulsa, where Johnson and Whitaker had been arguing before he repeatedly hit her over the head with a metal claw hammer, according to documents prepared for Johnson’s clemency hearing in April.
Prosecutors said Whitaker suffered a fractured skull and more than 20 lacerations on her face and scalp, but remained conscious enough to plead for help and for Johnson to spare Kya, who was sleeping in a bedroom. The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said Whitaker begged Johnson to call 911, to let her mother come get Kya, and to think of her children. The state said Whitaker had three other children.
The Attorney General’s Office also described how, after the assault, Johnson retrieved a gas can from a tool shed, doused Whitaker and the house with gasoline, lit a dish towel on fire, threw it at Whitaker, and left. Prosecutors said Whitaker died from head injuries and smoke inhalation, while Kya died from severe burns.
During the execution, Johnson apologized to the victims’ family and asked for forgiveness. As he was strapped to a gurney inside the death chamber, prison officials said he told the victims’ family, “To Brooke and Kya and your family, I want to apologize for my actions and the pain I caused you,” adding, “I hope people can speak your names without my name attached to it. I hurt you. One day, I hope you can forgive me.” His spiritual advisor, Kurt Borgmann, read Scripture in the chamber as the execution proceeded, which prison officials said lasted about 11 minutes.
Officials said a doctor declared Johnson unconscious about six minutes after the first drugs began to flow. Oklahoma’s protocol, prison officials said, uses the sedative midazolam, followed by vecuronium bromide to halt breathing and potassium chloride to stop the heart.
After the execution, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said he prayed that Brooke and Kya’s family would find peace. In a statement, Drummond said, “I pray that Brooke’s and Kya’s family find some measure of peace today after enduring unimaginable pain and grief for nearly two decades.”
The state’s clemency process reached a final vote in April. Officials said Oklahoma’s five-member Pardon and Parole Board voted unanimously to deny Johnson clemency during a hearing where Johnson apologized and said he was a changed person, including saying, “I apologize. No excuses, no justifications, a sincere apology. And to know that it’s sincere, look at my actions. Look at my life. Look how I’ve changed. I’m living a remorseful life. I’m living it,” according to a Death Penalty Action interview cited by the reporting.
Whitaker’s family asked that the execution proceed. Logan Kleck, Whitaker’s oldest daughter, wrote in a letter to the board that “Executing him will not give me my mom or sister back, it will not take away almost 20 years of pain,” and that it “will not take away” that grief, adding that it would “finally stop him from continuing to hurt us,” according to the letter described in the report.
The reporting also described a dispute among Whitaker’s relatives about execution delays. Angie Short, one of Whitaker’s aunts, criticized the postponements of a scheduled execution date, saying Whitaker’s mother died about five months after the execution was originally scheduled for May 2024. Short said, “Because of the delays, my sister didn’t get to witness justice,” and added, “This couldn’t bring them back. But we’ll no longer have to see his face on TV. He’s no longer associated with Brooke and Kya. Now I think we can finally begin to heal after 20 years.”
Johnson’s legal team did not file a last-minute request to stop the execution with the U.S. Supreme Court, officials said. His attorneys had earlier argued that his arrest was illegal, that police coerced his confession, and that his trial lawyer conceded his guilt in Whitaker’s death without his permission.
In addition to first-degree murder conviction, officials said Johnson served nine years of a 20-year sentence after being convicted of manslaughter in 1996. Oklahoma said Johnson was the second person put to death in the state this year and the 11th in the country.