Angela Johnson

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Angela Johnson is the first woman sentenced to death by a United States Federal jury since Bonnie Brown Heady was executed by the gas chamber in 1953. She is the first woman sentenced to die by a federal court in over 50 years. Forty-nine women have been executed under state laws since 1900.[1]

In 2005, she was found guilty of involvement in the murder of five people in the State of Iowa in the 1993 attempt to derail a methamphetamine investigation. Iowa is one of only fourteen US states without a capital punishment law. [2]

The jury that convicted her also handed down four death sentence. The presiding judge has stated "I am troubled by the lack of certainty in the record concerning the precise involvement of Angela Johnson in these crimes"[1]. Under federal law, the judge is bound by the jury's verdict.

Her former boyfriend, Dustin Honken, is currently on death row, also convicted of the murders. Although it was Honken who actually pulled the trigger, killing three adults and two children, Johnson received the death penalty for all five victims, while Honken was sentenced to death for only the two children.

Johnson, who lured four of the victims to their death by posing as a lost sales person in need of a phonebook, gained entrance into the victim's home, allowing access for Honken. Honken then videotaped a forced confession from one of the victims in hopes of exoneration from a previous drug charge. Afterwards, the victims were taken to a remote location before being murdered.

The fifth victim, who previously dated Johnson and allegedly owed drug money to Honken, was also baited by Johnson when she requested they meet at a local county club where she was working. They then drove to a local farm where Honken was waiting with a loaded handgun.

Johnson who had a child from a previous marriage was also pregnant by Honken at the time of the murders.

[edit] See also

  • Dustin Honken

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Woman sentenced to death", Associated Press, 2005-12-21. Retrieved on 2008-06-05. 
  2. ^ Death Penalty Policy By State. Death Penalty Information Center (2008). Retrieved on 2008-06-03.

[edit] External links


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