70th murderer executed in U.S. in 2002
819th murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
2nd murderer executed in Alabama in 2002
25th murderer executed in Alabama since 1976
(Race/Sex/Age at Murder-Execution) |
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(Race/Sex/Age at Murder) |
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Anthony Keith Johnson W / M / 27 - 46 |
Kenneth Cantrell W / M / ? |
Summary:
Anthony Johnson was convicted of capital murder for a gun battle that killed jewelry dealer Kenneth Cantrell during a robbery at his Hartselle home. The main evidence against Johnson was a bullet removed from his back 2 days after the robbery, which closely matched the gun used by Cantrell in defending himself during the robbery. Johnson served as a lookout for two other men and did not fire the shot that killed Cantrell, but he is the only one who has been charged and convicted in the case.
Citations:
Johnson v. State, 521 So. 2d 1006 (Ala. Crim. App. 1986), aff’d, 521 So. 2d 1018 (Ala. 1988). (Direct)
Johnson v. Alabama, 488 U.S. 876, 109 S. Ct. 193, 102 L. Ed. 2d 162 (1988). (Cert. denied)
Johnson v. State, 612 So. 2d 1288 (Ala. Crim. App. 1992) (PCR).
Final Meal:
A sandwich from a Holman Prison vending machine.
Final Words:
"I'd just like to say to my friends I loved them. But they all know that I loved them."
Internet Sources:
"State Plans to Execute Killer Today," by Todd Kleffman. (December 12, 2002)
As Anthony Keith Johnson met with family members and spiritual advisers in the visitation yard Wednesday, officials at Holman Prison worked nearby to prepare Alabama's lethal injection chamber for its debut. Barring an eleventh-hour stay, Johnson will become the first person to die from lethal injection at the state's hand. His execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. today at the prison near Atmore. "I spoke with him briefly today and he was fairly upbeat, at least as much as he could be under these circumstances," Holman Warden Grantt Culliver said Wednesday afternoon. He seems to be calm, still hoping there will be some sort of reprieve come down."
Johnson, 46, was convicted for being involved in the 1984 killing of Hartselle jeweler Kenneth Cantrell during a robbery attempt. Johnson served as a lookout for two other men and did not fire the shot that killed Cantrell, but he is the only one who has been charged and convicted in the case. After the Alabama Supreme Court rejected his bid for a stay last week, Johnson's attorneys filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court will either grant or reject his appeal. Mike Kanarick, spokesman for the governor, said Johnson asked Gov. Don Siegelman for clemency as well.
Attorney Bryan Stevenson, director of the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, said Wednesday there are several issues involved in Johnson's death sentence that need to be resolved before that sentence is carried out. "It's always very problematic when you execute someone before the constitutional issues are settled," Stevenson said.
All of the investigators in the case "concede that he was not a principal player in this death," Stevenson said. Alabama is one of the few states that still allows those who aid and abet in crimes to be sentenced to death, he said. Several investigators hope he is spared execution so he can testify against his accomplices if they are ever caught. The Morgan County jury that convicted Johnson voted 9-3 to sentence him to life in prison, but the judge in the case overrode that decision and sentenced him to death.
If Johnson is not granted a stay, prison officials are prepared to carry out the execution using lethal injection for the first time, instead of the electric chair. The Legislature passed a law earlier this year making lethal injection the primary method of execution. Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett said Holman officials are well-practiced at using the new killing device, which injects three different chemicals -- sodium pentothal, Pavulon and potassium chloride -- to bring about death. The state spent about $185,000 to create the lethal injection chamber and was prepared to put it to use, first in October and then in November, but both of those scheduled executions were stayed.
Anthony Johnson was convicted of capital murder for a gun battle that killed jewelry dealer Kenneth Cantrell during a robbery at his Hartselle home. On the evening of March 11, 1984, the victim, Kenneth Cantrell, and his wife were at their home in Hartselle, Alabama. The Cantrells had been in the jewelry business for 24 years and at this time were conducting the business from their home. Mrs. Cantrell received a phone call from a person who identified himself as Bill Spears from Florence, Alabama, and asked to speak to Mr. Cantrell. He told Mr. Cantrell that he would like to purchase some jewelry from him, and they arranged a meeting a short time thereafter at the Cantrell home.
Kenneth was apparently suspicious of the caller, because he asked his wife to hide his wallet and bring him his .38 caliber pistol. When Mrs. Cantrell heard a knock at the door, which led from their carport into the combined living room and dining room area of their home, she went to answer it. She observed that the man already had the storm door open, but she had to open the door to hear what he had to say. When she opened the door she encountered a man between 45 and 50 years of age who identified himself as Bill Spears. She noticed that he held one hand behind his back, and she asked if he was concealing something. He said that he was not and showed her his hand. At the same time he motioned for another man who had been hiding in the carport to come forward. The man already at the door then grabbed Mrs. Cantrell, and the other man, wearing a blue bandana over his face and brandishing a "real shiny" gun in his hand, announced "This is a holdup."
At that point, Mrs. Cantrell broke free from the man holding her, eluded a second attempt by the first man to grab her, and fell at her husband's feet between the couch and coffee table. The first man crossed the room and positioned himself behind a couch he had overturned. The second man then entered the house and began shooting. During or just before the gunfight, Kenneth allegedly said, "Freeze ... I have got you covered," to which one of the men replied "No, we have got you, Cantrell." While on the floor, Mrs. Cantrell was able to observe that one of the men wore a pair of brown boots. She also testified that only two guns were fired during the exchange, and that the shots fired at her husband appeared to come from the direction of the second intruder. After several shots had been fired, there was a pause in the gunfire. One of the men said: "Come on in, Bubba ... we've got him." As the two men in the room made their way to the door, but before they reached it, Kenneth fired one final shot and someone said "Oh." Mrs. Cantrell then heard the sound of shuffling feet, as if one of the intruders was being assisted out of the house.
After the intruders left, Mrs. Cantrell waited a moment, looked up at her husband, noticed that he had blood all over him, and that she had blood all over her but had not been shot. She then called an ambulance and police to the scene. Kenneth sustained six gunshot wounds in the exchange, three in the right side of his chest, one in the left side of his chest, one in the back of his right arm, and one to his right middle finger. The bullets that struck him in the chest passed through his lungs and the large arteries from the heart, causing rapid death.
On the evening of March 12, 1984, the day after the murder, Johnson went to the home of a friend in Newell, Alabama. Johnson told the friend that he had been shot and stated, "Well you know how it is when you have got the habit." Johnson told his friend that he knew he'd been to Vietnam, and asked if he knew a medic or someone who could get the bullet out. The friend told him that he knew no one who could do that. At Johnson's request, on the morning of March 13, 1984, the friend drove Johnson to a motel in Oxford, Alabama, to meet Gene Loyd. Loyd and Johnson were glad to see each other, and Loyd asked Johnson where he had been. Johnson replied that he "had to get the hell out of Hartselle." He said that he and some friends had gone into a place to "get some gold" and that he had been shot. Johnson stated: "I got shot, but I got off a couple of rounds, and I believe I got that son of a bitch."
When the friend returned home, he heard that a murder had occurred in Hartselle, and he contacted law enforcement. Johnson was arrested on March 14, 1984, at the motel where he had been taken. A pair of brown boots, which Johnson claimed to own, were found at the scene of the arrest. A bullet wound was discovered in his back; that wound was 50.5 inches from the ground when Johnson was standing. A search warrant was eventually obtained, and the bullet was surgically removed from Johnson's back. The bullet that was removed from his back was a .38 special C.C.I. Blazer, the same kind of bullet fired by Kenneth's revolver. The bullet had the same characteristics as those test-fired from Kenneth's R.G. revolver and those found at the scene, although it was impossible to make a definite determination that the same revolver actually fired the bullet. The bullet that was removed from Johnson's back also had glass embedded in its nose. Test comparisons of the glass removed from the bullet and the glass found in the pane on the back door (through which the unaccounted-for bullet had passed) revealed that all of their physical properties matched, with no measurable discrepancies. Based upon F.B.I. statistical information, it was determined that only 3.8 out of 100 samples could have the same physical properties.
"'Bama Executes Man Who Didn't Kill; Johnson Becomes First To Die By Lethal Injection (December 12, 2002)
ATMORE, AL - A man who did not kill anyone has become the first condemned prisoner to be executed by lethal injection in Alabama. Anthony Keith Johnson, 46, was executed Thursday night at the Holman Correctional Faciltiy for his role in the 1984 murder of a jeweler in Hartselle. Johnson, prosecutors have acknowledged, did not fire any of the bullets that killed the victim during the botched robbery. During the robbery attempt of Kenneth Cantrell, a gunfight broke out and Cantrell was killed. Johnson was also shot during the robbery and was arrested after he sought treatment for the bullet wound. Johnson was one of three men involved in the robbery. No one else has been charged or arrested.
Dig for Bullet As Evidence of Guilt There were several bizarre aspects to the case that led Johnson to the state's new lethal injection chamber. Prosecutors got a warrant to have the bullet taken out of Johnson so they could attempt to prove it came from the victim’s gun. It had. In addition, the jury at Johnson’s trial recommended that Johnson receive life in prison. However, the presiding judge then overturned the jury’s recommendation and sentenced him to death.
And, an Alabama law would not allow Johnson's testimony to be used to convict others in the case - since he was a co-conspirator in the robbery/murder, prosecutors said. In the hours before his execution Thursday, there were calls from defense lawyers and even some lawmen to spare Johnson from the execution gurney. Gov. Don Siegelman refused to grant clemency.
Lawmen Said Be More Use Alive A state investigator involved in the case, Harold Newell, told reporters that Johnson had offered to cooperate four years ago in bringing others involved in the robbery/murder to trial. He said he’d rather see the execution stayed so that other suspects could be arrested and tried. Mike Ball, of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation in Huntsville, also believed that if Johnson was executed, others involved in the murder of Cantrell would have a "free ride." However, under Alabama law, a felony conviction cannot be based soley on the testimony of a co-conspirator, prosecutors noted. Another words: Johnson's testimony could not be used to help convict any other person involved in the murder of Cantrell. But prosecutors had a different view.
Dies In New Death Chamber
Morgan County District Attorney Bob Burrell said Johnson was a member of a gang of thieves and got caught. Another prosecutor had said that Johnson fired a gun at the victim. Alabama officially switched to lethal injection on July 1 as its primary means of execuiton. Condemned killers sentenced before a specific date can still choose to die in the electric chair. The switch leaves only Nebraska as the only state that will still use electricity to kill convicted murderers.
Johnson was the first to die in the state's new lethal injection chamber. The remodeling and construction cost nearly $166,000, including a transport stretcher, heart monitor, intravenous poles and an injection restraint system costing about $76,000. The last person to die in the elctric chair in Alabama was Lynda Lyon-Sibley on May 10, 2002.
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Anthony Johnson - Dec. 12, 2002 - 6:00 PM CST, 7:00 PM EST
The state of Alabama is scheduled to execute Anthony Johnson Dec. 12 for the 1984 murder of Kenneth Cantrell. Johnson’s jury voted 9-3 for a punishment of life in prison without parole, but the trial judge ignored its recommendation and sentenced him to death.
The U.S. Supreme Court attempted to curtail judges’ sentencing discretion in Ring v. Arizona, ruling that juries, not judges, must consider the facts that might lead to a death sentence. This decision, generally regarded as a step toward fewer death sentences (because juries are less likely to choose capital punishment than judges), sparked significant debate concerning whether or not the states would apply it retroactively.
Atkins v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court’s other landmark decision in June, which banned the executions of mentally retarded people, immediately assumed a retroactive effect. The states are supposed to apply Atkins to current death row inmates as well as future capital defendants. Logically, Ring’s applicability should extend to those currently on death row as well, since their pending executions hinge on an unconstitutional procedure.
Prior to Ring, Alabama law gave judges sentencing discretion, but allowed juries to make non-binding recommendations. Johnson’s trial judge defied the wishes of a clear majority of the jurors in sentencing him to death, and that very type of abuse of the system likely prompted the high court to reconsider the constitutionality of such death sentences.
Johnson allegedly shot Kenneth Cantrell, a jewelry dealer from Hartselle, Alabama while attempting to rob his home on the night of March 11, 1984. The victim’s wife claimed he called in advance, speaking as Mr. Bill Spears from Florence, a prospective jewelry buyer. Cantrell invited him to his house for a meeting, but apparently suspected something, because he asked his wife to hide his wallet and bring him his .38 pistol. According to the prosecution’s story, Johnson arrived and shot Cantrell numerous times in the chest, killing him almost instantly. The case, however, despite the clear-cut story, has its own intricacies and hurdles, and Johnson’s 17-year road through the legal system has been tainted with injustice.
Aside from his legitimate argument challenging the application of Ring, Johnson challenged his sentence based on ineffective assistance of counsel, which could have substantial merit. Monday, Nov. 18, the U.S. Supreme Court accepted Kevin Wiggins’ case, deciding to reconsider the criteria for which defendants must prove an ineffective counsel claim (initially drafted in Strickland v. Washington, 1984).
In his dissenting opinion on Johnson’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the death sentence in 1988, Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote: “it approaches the most literal sense of the word ‘arbitrary’ to put one to death in the face of a contrary jury determination where it is accepted that the jury had indeed responsibly carried out its task.”
This case represents an example of the hierarchy of the legal system drowning out the people’s voice. Anthony Johnson’s jury voted 9-3 to sentence him to life without parole. Please write the state of Alabama and request a commutation of his sentence.
ATMORE, Alabama (AP) - (December 12, 2002) - A man condemned for his role in the 1984 shooting death of a jeweler became the first Alabama inmate executed by injection Thursday evening. Anthony Johnson, who was not the triggerman in the robbery, was put to death despite pleas from some investigators that it be halted to help solve the crime. His appeals were rejected by the governor and U.S. Supreme Court hours before his scheduled execution.
Johnson, 46, did not give a final statement. He acknowledged the presence of his pastor and a friend in the witness room and told the warden, "They know I love them."
Lethal injection became Alabama's primary method of execution under a law passed earlier this year, leaving only Nebraska with the chair as the sole means to execute condemned inmates. Alabama's electric chair, known as "Yellow Mama" for its color, has been used since 1927. It was last used in May.
The original investigators in the March 11, 1984, slaying of Hartselle jeweler Kenneth Cantrell had said that, if spared execution, Johnson could help bring his cohorts to justice. No one else has been prosecuted, but the district attorney said Johnson's uncorroborated testimony would not have been be sufficient to bring charges. Johnson's lawyer has said he gave police the names of the other people involved in the slaying.
"Alabama's First Lethal Injection Execution Draws Near." (AP 12-12-02)
ATMORE, Ala. (AP) -- An inmate drew within hours of becoming the first Alabama prisoner put to death by lethal injection Thursday as police joined his attorney in seeking a stay of execution. Both the defense lawyer and investigators involved in the case said the execution should be halted in part to help bring remaining suspects to trial.
Anthony Keith Johnson, 46, was scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Thursday at Holman Prison near Atmore for his part in the 1984 slaying of Hartselle jeweler Kenneth Cantrell during a botched robbery. No one else has been prosecuted in the killing, including the triggerman. Defense attorneys sought a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court, and they asked Gov. Don Siegelman to grant clemency for Johnson.
Alabama has executed inmates in the electric chair for decades, but a law enacted earlier this year made lethal injection the primary means of execution. Johnson opted for injection instead of the chair.
The state has acknowledged Johnson was not the triggerman, and his lawyers and some police claim his execution could prevent any future arrests of the person who actually shot Cantrell. Johnson and two other men went to Cantrell's home on March 11, 1984. A gunfight broke out and Cantrell exchanged shots with his would-be robbers. Johnson was arrested when he sought treatment for a gunshot wound.
Johnson's case first gained notoriety when authorities got a court order to remove a bullet lodged in his back to aid the prosecution effort. They concluded the bullet was consistent with the victim's weapon. No other arrests were made. "Keith was the lookout," said Deborah Forbes, Johnson's lawyer. "He does not have entirely clean hands. But he was a tangential player, and the police have known this from the very beginning."
Johnson gave police the names of the other people involved in the slaying years ago, Forbes said, and Cantrell's widow could help identify the other killers. Former Hartselle Police Chief John Pat Orr said other people being involved did not diminish Johnson's guilt, but his testimony would be "very helpful" to convict them. "Without Johnson's testimony, the chance of the arrest and conviction of the other parties involved would be greatly diminished" by Johnson's execution, he said.
Mike Ball, supervising agent for the Alabama Bureau of Investigation in Huntsville, said he wanted to reopen the case five years ago. "I hate the fact the others are getting a free ride," Ball said. But Morgan County District Attorney Bob Burrell said Alabama law does not allow for a felony conviction based solely on the testimony of a co-conspirator. "This is not a case of mistaken identity but rather a situation of only one member of a gang of thieves being caught," he said in a statement.
Forbes said the alleged triggerman lives in Huntsville. Alton Johnson, the inmate's father, said his son didn't testify against the accomplices because they had threatened his family. "I think it was fear, fear for his mother and myself and his brother," said Alton Johnson. Harold Newell, the state investigator who handled the case, said Johnson offered four years ago to cooperate in bringing the others involved in the murder to trial. He believes that information should have been used to reopen the case. "I'd rather see the governor give him a stay and hopefully go after these others," said Newell. "They are the ones that will breathe the biggest sigh of relief when Anthony Keith is executed."
In the Supreme Court petition, Johnson's lawyers contend that Alabama's sentencing structure is unconstitutional. At Johnson's trial, jurors voted 9-3 for life in prison without parole, but a Morgan County judge chose not to accept that recommendation and imposed the death sentence. In her filing with the Supreme Court, Johnson's attorney cited a decision of the court in an Arizona case that held juries, not judges, must impose the death penalty. But Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw contended the Arizona decision does not affect the Alabama cases because Alabama juries determine whether the accused is eligible for the death sentence when they debate the defendant's guilt on a capital murder charge. Arizona, unlike Alabama, also gives juries no participation in sentencing, Crenshaw said.
"Defense Seeks to Halt Execution of Man Who Might be Key Witness." (AP)
Anthony Keith Johnson is scheduled to be executed Thursday in a 1984 shooting death even though the triggerman has never been caught and Johnson's testimony might be crucial in bringing him to justice. Defense attorneys have asked the Alabama Supreme Court for a stay and Gov. Don Siegelman to grant clemency to Johnson, who could become the first to die in Alabama by lethal injection if no one intervenes.
A Morgan County judge sentenced Johnson to death for the slaying of Hartselle jeweler Kenneth Cantrell during a robbery attempt. Johnson was shot during the crime and his case gained wide notice when authorities went to court to get approval to extract a bullet from Johnson to use as evidence against him.
Prosecutors concede that Johnson, now 46, was not the actual killer, but as a participant in the robbery attempt with two other men, he qualified for the death penalty. Johnson's attorney, Deborah Forbes of Washington, D.C., told The Decatur Daily in a story Friday that the state offered Johnson a plea agreement in 1984 if he would identify the man who shot Cantrell. He refused the offer. Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw, who argues the execution should be carried out as scheduled, said Johnson fired his gun during the robbery attempt, but missed the victim. "You don't have to be the actual triggerman. Just because his bullet missed does not mean he did not commit murder," Crenshaw said. Crenshaw said Siegelman has not granted clemency to a single death-row inmate since taking office.
Johnson's attorneys also filed a petition for a stay of execution with the Alabama Supreme Court. Crenshaw said he filed a brief opposing the request. The court has not scheduled a hearing on the petition.
The jury that convicted Johnson voted 9-3 to recommend a sentence of life without parole rather than the death penalty. Morgan County Circuit Judge R.L. Hundley rejected the recommendation, instead imposing the death penalty. Forbes said Johnson's death sentence should be set aside because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in an Arizona case that held juries, not judges, must decide if a defendant lives or dies. Crenshaw said the Arizona case should not affect Alabama death sentences because juries in Alabama determine if the defendant committed a crime in which death is a possible sentence. Forbes said clemency or a stay of execution makes sense in Johnson's case in part because he could assist law enforcement officials by identifying the killer. The request for clemency names three other people whom she said were involved in the robbery.
At the time of his trial, Johnson's attorneys argued that he was not at the scene of the crime. Forbes said Morgan County District Attorney Bob Burrell refuses to reopen the case even though Johnson has offered to testify and other law officers want the case re-examined. The Decatur Daily said Burrell did not return phone calls.
Mike Ball, currently the supervising agent at the Huntsville office of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, said he tried to reopen the investigation at the request of former Hartselle Police Chief John Pat Orr. "I hated that the co-conspirators are not going to be brought to justice," Ball told the newspaper. "I met with (Burrell) several years ago. Part of his job is to decide whether there is a likelihood that the prosecution will be successful. But quite frankly, as a police officer, it is just really tough to know that there is a killer out there who has not seen justice."
According to evidence at trial, three men entered Cantrell's home after an arrangement was made to buy jewelry. Cantrell, suspicious of robbery, pulled a gun and shots were exchanged. Johnson was arrested when he sought medical help for a bullet in his back. Later a court dispute arose over whether authorities could remove the bullet. After a judge's ruling, a doctor removed the bullet with lawyers and police present, and it was viewed by some as consistent with the type of bullet fired by Cantrell. Ball agrees with Crenshaw that Johnson probably fired a gun, but Johnson's bullets did not hit Cantrell.
"Alabama Executes First Inmate by Injection; Investigators Pleaded for Clemency, Hoping Man Could Lead Them to Accomplices," by By Garry Mitchell. (AP December 13, 2002)
ATMORE, Ala., Dec. 12 -- Convicted murderer Anthony Keith Johnson became the first inmate executed by injection in Alabama despite pleas today from some investigators that it be stopped to help solve the crime. Johnson, 46, was pronounced dead at 6:27 p.m., state prison Commissioner Mike Haley said.
Johnson, whose requests to stop the execution were rejected by the governor and U.S. Supreme Court only a couple of hours before it took place, was sentenced to die for his role in the shooting death of Hartselle jeweler Kenneth Cantrell in 1984. Johnson was not the triggerman, and the original case investigators said that, if spared execution, he could help bring others involved in the crime to justice. No one else has been prosecuted, but the district attorney said Johnson's uncorroborated testimony would not have been sufficient to bring charges.
Johnson was executed on a rainy night at Holman prison without giving a final statement. He acknowledged the presence of his pastor and a friend in the witness room and told the warden, "They know I love them." The drugs were administered at 6 p.m. as Johnson was strapped to a gray gurney, his arms extended and head and shoulders tilted upward. A prison chaplain knelt at the foot of the gurney and prayed. Johnson, his eyes closed, mouthed words in unison with the prayer. The corrections guard reentered the execution chamber about 6:22 and the curtains were drawn across the observation window to the witness room as the body was taken away.
Injection became Alabama's primary method of execution under a law enacted earlier this year, leaving only Nebraska with the electric chair as the sole means to execute inmates. Alabama's electric chair, known as "Yellow Mama" for its color, has been used since an inmate built it in 1927. It was last used in May.
Gov. Don Siegelman had conferred with the state attorney general's office and others involved in the case before reaching his decision. In a statement, Siegelman said he refused to grant clemency, which would commute the sentence to life, because he believes the death sentence was proper. He said he declined Johnson's alternative request for a reprieve, similar to a temporary stay, because "the passage of additional time would serve no purpose, either in regard to any legal issues, or to the possible prosecution of additional individuals. It deeply angers me that others who were involved in Mr. Cantrell's murder have not been charged." Siegelman noted that Johnson had lost his legal argument for a stay before the Supreme Court.
In that request, Johnson's lawyers argued that Alabama's sentencing structure is unconstitutional, based on a ruling in an Arizona case. But the Supreme Court, without comment or dissent, turned down the request this afternoon. At Johnson's trial, jurors voted 9 to 3 for life in prison without parole, but Morgan County Circuit Judge R.L. Hundley chose not to accept that recommendation and imposed the death sentence.
Hundley, now retired, said today that the governor and his aides had discussed the case with him over several days in an effort to reach the investigators. Hundley, 77, said he never recommended a stay of execution to the governor. According to authorities, Johnson and two other men went to Cantrell's home on March 11, 1984. A gunfight broke out and Cantrell exchanged shots with his would-be robbers. Johnson was arrested when he sought treatment for a gunshot wound. Johnson's case first gained notoriety when, to aid the prosecution effort, authorities had to get a court order to remove a bullet lodged in his back. They concluded the bullet was consistent with the victim's weapon, putting Johnson at the crime scene. No other arrests were made, although Johnson's lawyer says he gave police the names of the other people involved in the killing.
Former Hartselle police chief John Pat Orr said the involvement of other people did not diminish Johnson's guilt, but his testimony would be helpful to convict them. Without it, he said, there's less chance of an arrest and conviction of the others.
"DA, Investigator Spar Over Blame in Cantrell Case." (AP December 14, 2002)
A Morgan County prosecutor remains at odds with a state investigator over accepting blame for allowing the killer of a Hartselle jeweler to stay free while a cohort in the 1984 slaying was executed. District Attorney Bob Burrell held a news conference Friday in response to critics who say he refused to prosecute the man who killed Kenneth Cantrell.
The only person arrested in the slaying, Anthony Keith Johnson, became the first inmate to be executed by lethal injection in Alabama. The state acknowledges that Johnson of Oak Ridge did not kill Cantrell, but some evidence suggests that Johnson did fire a gun.
Johnson's supporters say the inmate had given investigators the name of the actual killer about six years ago and nothing happened. Alabama Bureau of Investigation agent Mike Ball said Burrell's refusal to prosecute a case against the killer effectively undermined investigators' ability to gather evidence. Johnson's family and friends sought to delay his execution so that his testimony could be used to prosecute the killer. But Gov. Don Siegelman refused to grant clemency or a reprieve.
According to law enforcement officers, both Johnson and Nell Cantrell, the victim's wife, identified a Huntsville man as the killer. Burrell said that he felt that any statements Johnson might have made would have been of such minimal value that it was not worth obtaining them, even though Johnson offered to testify with no change to his death penalty and even though Ball said he wanted to take the statement. "We offered Burrell a freebie, and he still wouldn't talk to Keith," according to Greg Williams, one of Johnson's attorneys.
The DA did not dispute Johnson's offer of a no-strings-attached interview. Instead he said that the interview would not have helped because under state law a conviction cannot rest solely on the testimony of an accomplice. "I have never been told of any corroboration by any investigator," Burrell said. Burrell said that another eyewitness to the killing, Cantrell's wife, preferred not to go through another trial.
Ball said that he thought he could have obtained enough evidence for a conviction if Burrell had not stopped the inquiry. Burrell specifically denied that he had talked to Ball two weeks ago about whether Ball could question a man suspected of destroying the getaway vehicle the day after Cantrell's murder. Ball said after the press conference that Burrell was telling the truth, technically. Ball said he talked to Paul Matthews, Burrell's chief assistant. "I told them if they wanted me to interview the suspects, I would like to. He said he would talk to Burrell and call me back. He never called back," Ball told The Decatur Daily.
Ball said Friday that he got involved in the case five years ago at the request of John Pat Orr, Hartselle's chief of police at the time of the killing. "We had two or three things that I thought had some promise. I talked to Johnson, and he gave me information about the other people. But Bob (Burrell) told us in no uncertain terms that he didn't think there was any potential for prosecution. He said leave it alone, and I left it alone. I would have loved to pursue it. "I don't go off on tangents by myself. I don't investigate unless I have the prosecutor's blessings," Ball said.
Burrell said that the odds of successfully prosecuting the killer with or without Johnson's testimony are low after 18 years, a fact that he said he communicated to Siegelman's legal adviser Thursday. After refusing to stop or delay Johnson's execution Thursday, Siegelman issued a statement that said in part, "It deeply angers me that others who were involved in Mr. Cantrell's murder have never been charged." Burrell said he did not feel he was the target of Siegelman's statement.
Responding to Ball's criticism, Burrell said, "It was my belief that the other perpetrators were being sought. It would certainly be my hope that the investigators remained vigilant," Burrell said. "I have never told anyone that this investigation is closed."
Burrell said he did seek to stop the investigation on one occasion several years ago. He said he did this because he feared that, in the process of collecting evidence on the killer, the investigators would damage the case against Johnson. He said he also instructed agents not to talk to Johnson's lawyers. "I told the investigators in this case that they were ill-suited to talk to the attorneys. That would have been like throwing raw meat to wolves," Burrell said.
ABOLISH Archives (Rick Halperin)
July 8 - ALABAMA:
Alabama has no execution chamber and no execution dates
Alabama has no way to carry out its new lethal injection law for executing death row inmates. But for now, it doesn't matter because the state Supreme Court has not set any execution dates.
Instead, the Alabama Supreme Court is looking at how a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling will affect an inmate who has been awaiting execution for 17 years. Death penalty opponents say the court's decision in the case of Anthony Keith Johnson could affect nearly 1/4 of the 183 inmates on Alabama's death row.
Johnson is 1 of 45 Alabama inmates who were sentenced to death even though juries recommended they not die for their crimes.
On July 1, the Legislature changed Alabama's primary form of execution from the electric chair to lethal injection. The state Department of Corrections is still figuring out how to implement the change and has not prepared a new execution chamber.
Corrections Commissioner Mike Haley has visited Texas, Florida and Georgia to study how they carry out lethal injections, but the Alabama Legislature didn't allocate him any money to prepare a new execution chamber at Holman Prison near Atmore.
The bright yellow electric chair at Holman can't be dismantled because the new execution law gives inmates already on death row the option of using the electric chair if they want, prison system spokesman Brian Corbett said Monday.
"Right now, there is not room to have another chamber without renovations," Corbett said Monday.
In the last two months, the state attorney general's office has asked the Alabama Supreme Court to set execution dates for four death row inmates who have either exhausted their appeals or dropped their appeals: Anthony Keith Johnson, George Sibley, Daniel Lee Siebert, and Donald Dallas.
The Alabama Supreme Court has not set dates on any of them. But in Johnson's case the justices have asked both sides to explain if the case is affected by a U.S. Supreme Court decision June 24 that said juries, rather than judges, should determine if defendants should be sentenced to death.
The ruling affected 5 states where judges sentence defendants to death. It did not address death penalty laws in four states, including Alabama, where juries make sentencing recommendations and judges decide the sentence.
Johnson was convicted of the March 11, 1984 robbery and killing of Hartselle jewelry dealer Kenneth Cantrell. Johnson's jury recommended 9-3 that he be sentenced to life in prison without parole, but a judge sentenced him to death.
Clay Crenshaw, who directs death penalty cases for the state attorney general's office, said he will argue that Johnson's attorneys should have raised the argument about the judge's override earlier and that it's too late to do it now.
Johnson's attorney, John Schafer of Washington, D.C., said the big question is whether the Alabama Supreme Court will apply the U.S. Supreme Court's decision retroactively. "It very hard to tell," he said Monday.
The official legal arguments from both sides won't be filed with the Supreme Court for a couple of weeks.
The other 3 inmates awaiting execution dates got the sentences that their juries recommended. State Supreme Court Clerk Bob Esdale said the court doesn't have a conference scheduled until next month and he doesn't expect anything to happen before late August.
(source: Associated Press)
Anthony Keith JOHNSON v. STATE OF ALABAMA (11th Cir. 2001)
MARCUS, Circuit Judge:
In this appeal, we consider the request for a writ of habeas corpus by Petitioner Anthony Keith Johnson, a state prisoner in Alabama. Johnson was indicted and convicted of capital murder in the 1984 shooting death of Kenneth Cantrell in Morgan County, Alabama. The state trial court imposed a sentence of death. That judgment was later upheld on direct appeal and again on collateral attack by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. In this federal habeas petition, Johnson argues that his conviction should be set aside on a variety of grounds. He contends, among other things, that his trial attorneys rendered him constitutionally ineffective assistance by choosing a flawed defense strategy. The district court conducted a hearing on Johnson's petition and subsequently issued a lengthy and well-reasoned order denying all relief. Johnson has now sought review from this Court. Having carefully reviewed the record and considered the parties' arguments, we affirm.