Joseph Johnson, Jr. (d. July 30, 1964, Huntsville Unit, Huntsville, Texas) was an American murderer executed by the state of Texas via the electric chair. He was convicted for murder committed during the course of a robbery.[1]
Johnson was the last inmate executed by the state of Texas prior to the United States Supreme Court's decision in Furman v. Georgia, which essentially overturned all death penalty sentences nationwide. All Texas inmates on death row at the time of the Furman decision would have their sentences commuted to life in prison.
The Supreme Court's later ruling in Gregg v. Georgia again allowed for the death penalty; though several states would not reinstate the death penalty, Texas chose to do so. Although Texas would resume executions in 1982 with the execution of Charles Brooks, Jr., during the intervening period the state also changed its execution method to lethal injection; thus, Johnson would be the last Texas inmate to be executed via the electric chair.