Texas man who torched 76-year-old gas station attendant alive during robbery put to death

A Texan man, found guilty of the horrific murder of an elderly petrol station worker by setting her on fire in 2012, was executed via lethal injection on Tuesday evening.

Matthew Lee Johnson was sentenced to death for the brutal killing of 76 year old Nancy Harris, a beloved great-grandmother who was doused with lighter fluid and set alight at her place of work in 2012.

Johnson, aged 49, was declared dead at approximately 6:53 p. m.

CDT on Tuesday at the state prison in Huntsville, Texas, as confirmed by the Texas Department of Corrections. The execution reportedly proceeded without any complications.

His was one of two executions carried out on Tuesday across the U.S. In Indiana, Benjamin Ritchie was executed at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, as reported by officials from the Indiana Department of Correction. The IDOC stated that the procedure began shortly after midnight, with Ritchie pronounced dead at 12:46 a, reports

These two executions form part of a series of four scheduled within roughly a week's span. On May 15, Glen Rogers was executed in Florida.

On Thursday, Oscar Smith is due to receive a lethal injection in Tennessee.

Johnson was arrested for his assault on the 76 year old Harris just over an hour after he entered a Garland convenience store armed with a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid and a cigarette lighter.

During his sentencing, Johnson admitted to being under the influence at the time of the robbery and insisted that he used lighter fluid to threaten Harris, without any intent to kill. However, the prosecution drew attention to Johnson's string of past offences and "bad acts," countering the testimonials from his family and employers who spoke of his role as a devoted father and his battles with substance abuse.

Court documents reveal the horrifying details of how Johnson doused Harris in lighter fluid, compelled her to open the cash register, before setting her ablaze.

Despite sustaining severe burns, she was able to give a description of her assailant before succumbing to her injuries days later, on May 20, 2012. Johnson faced execution precisely 13 years post the harrowing incident.

Harris tragically passed away five days after the assault, with Johnson eventually confessing to law enforcement that he was responsible for igniting the blaze that killed her.

Since his conviction, Johnson has exhausted numerous appeals, all to no avail, including an attempt at the U.S. Supreme Court which declined to review his case in 2024. Recently, Johnson sought a stay of execution from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing prosecutorial misconduct; that is, Ken Paxton's office had unduly influenced his death penalty by proposing execution dates to the court.

His plea was rejected last Sunday.

In previous pleas, Johnson's defence maintained the death sentence was unconstitutional, asserting he hadn't been properly deemed a future threat, a necessary legal verdict for capital punishment. His latest rounds of appeals claimed his execution date was unlawfully fixed.

Johnson's admission of guilt was unequivocal. During his 2013 trial, he confessed to the horrific act of setting Harris ablaze.

He expressed deep regret and described himself as "the lowest scum of the earth.

"I hurt an innocent woman. I took a human being's life. I was the cause of that. It was not my intentions to -- to kill her or to hurt her, but I did," Johnson declared.

He claimed ignorance of his actions at the time, attributing it to being high after consuming $100 worth of crack cocaine. His defence team highlighted Johnson's extensive history with drug addiction and past experiences of sexual abuse during his childhood.

Harris had been a familiar face at the convenience store, having worked there for over a decade and living just a short distance away, as her son Scot Harris testified. She was a mother to four sons, grandmother to 11, and great-grandmother to seven.

The prosecution detailed how Harris had only recently started working the Sunday morning shift when Johnson entered, doused her in lighter fluid, and demanded cash.

After snatching the money from the till, Johnson callously set Harris alight and left the premises with chilling composure, court records show. In desperation, Harris attempted to put out the flames engulfing her and her clothes, eventually leaving the shop and crying out for assistance until a police officer managed to extinguish the fire with a fire extinguisher.

Johnson was apprehended roughly an hour later.

Harris endured severe second- and third-degree burns across her head, face, neck, shoulders, upper arms, and leg, causing immense pain in the days leading up to her death, as testified by a nurse and doctor.

Johnson's execution marks the fourth such instance in Texas this year, a state known for its high rate of capital punishment. Should both of Tuesday's scheduled executions proceed, it would bring the total number of death sentences executed nationwide this year to 18.