USA - Texas. Derrick Lamone Johnson was executed today

Derrick Lamone Johnson was executed today. He had confessed to the 1999 rape-slaying of LaTausha Curry, 25. Authorities determined the slaying was part of a 2-week crime spree involving Johnson and a companion that left numerous women robbed or raped. Several women who survived attacks from Johnson and a partner, Marcus Maxwell, then 15, testified at Johnson's trial. Maxwell took a plea deal and is serving 40 years in prison. Capital punishment opponents from Amnesty International USA and the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty planned to gather for a 200-minute vigil outside the criminal courthouse in Houston to mark what soon will be the 200th execution of Perry's tenure. During Bush's 6 years as governor, 157 executions were carried out in Texas. Johnson becomes the 14th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 437th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. Johnson becomes the 198th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since Rick Perry became Governor in 2001. Johnson becomes the 24th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1160th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.