LITTLE ROCK (KFSM) — A death row inmate slated to be put to death on Thursday (April 20) filed a motion for a stay of execution on Tuesday afternoon (April 18).
Stacey Johnson is requesting a stay of execution claiming his innocence. He also requested a post-conviction DNA testing hearing.
The motion states that current DNA technology would be capable of identifying the source of DNA better than it was able to in 1997 when his case was tried. It states that retesting the DNA would “irrefutably incriminate the true murderer and exonerate Mr. Johnson.”
Johnson was found guilty of violently raping, beating, and strangling Carol Heath in 1993. This is his fifth execution date.
Johnson and Ledell Lee are scheduled for execution on Thursday (April 20). If they are executed, they will be the first prisoners put to death in the state since 2005.
