TERRY LEWIS: The anatomy of an execution

EDITOR’S NOTE: Albany Herald education writer Terry Lewis was a witness Thursday night at the execution of Marcus Ray Johnson.

JACKSON — Thursday night, I sat in the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison’s death chamber watching Marcus Ray Johnson being prepped for his execution. The precision and ritualization of the step-by-step process had an almost religious air to it, and will remain with me for the rest of my life.

On my way to the death house, it was impossible not to notice the extraordinary security around the facility. Black clad prison SWAT team members were posted all around the prison yard, and all were armed with assault rifles or tactical shot guns. They never moved, backs to the facility, scanning the perimeter.

Joan Heath, director of public affairs for the Department of Corrections, said the additional man power was the norm for all execution nights.

“Security,” she said, “is very important.”

Johnson was brought into the chamber around 9:20 p.m. by six prison guards, and he did not resist. Prior to being transported to the death house, he had requested a six-pack of beer as his last meal. It was denied. While in his cell, Johnson was asked if he wished to make a final statement. He refused, as he did a last meal and an optional sedative.

This man, a convicted murderer who was about to die for the 1994 killing of Angela Sizemore, showed no emotion as the guards strapped him onto the gurney in the execution chamber. For the 36th time at the GDCP, the process has remained the same — secure the legs, the arms and then the torso.

No words were spoken.

Once Johnson was secured, with both arms spread and exposed, it reminded me of a crucifixion. I thought, “Well, Jesus died for all of our sins, but Marcus Ray Johnson was going to die for his own sin.”

Four of the six guards left the room and two members of the prison’s medical staff entered the chamber. They attached EKG electrodes to his chest and inserted IV lines into both arms. Johnson smiled briefly as the two nurses applied the tourniquets, but otherwise he kept his eyes focused on the ceiling. He was blinking rapidly and swallowing hard.

After the IV lines were placed the medical staff attached feeder lines which emerged from two holes in the chamber’s back wall. One of the nurses left the chamber and the two guards covered Johnson from foot to chest high with a sheet. They then rotated the gurney so Johnson was at an estimated angle of 15 degrees — head up.

The execution witness room is approximately 20-by-25 and has three pews lined up before three windows, which provide looks into the death chamber. Up to this point, my GDCP handler and I were the only persons sitting in the front pew.

My handler motioned for me to get up and the Sizemore and Johnson families were brought into the witness room. Sizemore’s family sat in the front pew with the Johnson family behind them. Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards, who pursued the death penalty case in 1998, sat with the Sizemore family.

The silence in the room was deafening.

After the families were seated, GDCP Warden Bruce Chatman read the death warrant and again asked Johnson if he had any final words. Johnson, who was still staring at the ceiling, shook his head.

Georgia uses Pentobarbital in its single-drug executions. Once the drug began flowing, Johnson’s blinking became less rapid and he swallowed more deeply. Then he just stopped. Minutes later, two doctors were brought into the chamber and Marcus Ray Johnson was pronounced dead at 10:11 p.m.

There were no sobs, no visible tears of grief, and just like that the 21-year journey that began with Angela Sizemore’s murder in 1994, was over. Looking back, only one thing is certain — Johnson’s death was much more peaceful than Sizemore’s.

Email Terry Lewis at [email protected]. Follow @ABH_TerryLewis on Twitter.