Long Time Death Row Inmate Put To Death

Stephen Johns, convicted of murdering a 17-year-old gas station attendant during a robbery in St. Louis in February of 1982, has been executed by lethal injection at the prison in Potosi. Johns maintained his innocence to the end, claiming those who had testified against him had lied. His final statement, a lengthy document, saw Johns refusing to forgive those who testified against him, state officials putting him to death, and the jurists he claims denied him access to legal redress. The family of Don Voepel, the victim, issued a final statement of its own, saying the family is satisfied that justice has been served. Johns waited more than 225 months from the time he was sentenced to death until he was executed. Only James Chambers, who was put to death last year, served a longer wait from sentence to execution – 227 months.