Texas, Alabama execute killers involved with rape-slayings

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A former truck and taxi driver blamed for numerous killings and rapes in Texas was executed Wednesday, and Alabama put to death a man who killed his stepdaughter.

Johnny Ray Johnson, 51, was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m. Thursday. He was condemned for the 1995 murder of Leah Joette Smith, who was raped, beaten and left to die on a Houston street.

In a lengthy final statement, Johnson denounced Texas death row in particular and called for an end to the death penalty in the United States.

According to court documents, Smith's murder was one of at least five rape-slayings in Houston and Austin that were linked to Johnson, a former truck and taxi driver. He also was linked at least eight other rapes beginning in the late 1970s.

Smith was described in court filings as a cocaine addict whom Johnson offered drugs in exchange for sex. After she got high, she refused to have sex with him and he beat and raped her repeatedly.

In a recent interview, Johnson denied any involvement in Smith's death. "I was at work that night," he told The Associated Press from death row. "I don't know what happened to her."

Johnson had an extensive criminal history before he got to death row. In 1983, he was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to five years in prison but was released on mandatory supervision less than two years later.

He found work as a cab driver and confessed to raping women he would pick up, including one who fought back and for whose rape he was sentenced to another five years in prison. He was released again after 10 months.

The execution was the second this week and eighth this year in Texas, the nation's most active death penalty state.

In Alabama, Danny Joe Bradley received lethal injection at 6:15 p.m. at Holman prison after spending 25 years on death row.

He was convicted of killing 12-year-old Rhonda Hardin, who disappeared while Bradley was supposed to be caring for the girl and her brother. Her body was found in woods near his apartment and she had been raped and strangled, according to court records.

Rhonda's brother testified at the trial that Bradley had frequently rendered the children unconscious by squeezing their necks.

DNA testing was not available at the original trial. In 2001, the Alabama Supreme Court granted Bradley a stay only a week before his scheduled execution to allow DNA testing of the girl's bedding. Court records show Rhonda's DNA and Bradley's were mixed on a blanket.

However, some critical evidence has been lost, including the rape kit and semen-stained clothing. An appeals court said Bradley couldn't gain further post-conviction access to DNA evidence, and the U.S. Supreme Court turned down his last request for a stay.