WASHINGTON D.C.- A North Texas man is denied a U.S. Supreme Court hearing regarding his death sentence for setting a convenience clerk on fire during a robbery in May of 2012. Then 36 years old, Matthew Johnson is reported to have admitted to police he was drunk and high on crack when he walked into the Whip In Store on Broadway in Garland, doused 76 year old Nancy Harris with lighter fluid, and set her on fire. Johnson was convicted of capital murder in November of 2013.
Police were reported right across the street at the time of the crime, and called for medics, but Harris died at an area hospital not long after.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, a federal district court judge, and Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals have allowed the conviction and death sentence to stand prior to this case review denial