Page 2 of 7 FirstFirst 1234 ... LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 62

Thread: Marcus Ray Johnson - Georgia Execution - November 19, 2015

  1. #11
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    The reason for that, the Georgia Criminal Defense Fund is broke. I pose this question, the prosecution didn't get the result they wanted so they get a do over?

  2. #12
    Reports are indicating that Marcus Johnson has an execution date that is set for September. It does not provide an exact date or week, other then to say it will occur in September.

  3. #13
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    2,740
    July 25, 2011

    Daughter of a murdered mother speaks

    Albany, Ga. - After Almost two decades since the murder, a date has been set for the killer's execution. Marcus Ray Johnson murdered Angela Sizemore in 1994 and he was convicted four years later.

    Katie Barker was very young at the time of her mother's murder, but now she is all grown up and uses the story of her mother as everyday inspiration. "Not a day goes by where I don't think about my mom," she says.

    Katie Barker was only four years old when she lost her mother, Angela Sizemore. "The last Memory I have is exactly one week before she passed away and that was her birthday. She took me out of pre k early and she took me shopping. That's the last memory I have of her."

    Sizemore left an Albany area nightclub in March 1994 with a man named Marcus Ray Johnson who took Sizemore to a nearby pond.

    Johnson was convicted of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, rape and aggravated battery in 1998 and sentenced to death.

    The Attorney General's office recently notified the family that Johnson has exhausted his appeals and could be executed in September.

    Barker is now 22, and plans to attend Athens Technical College in the fall. She's disappointed she couldn't have a normal life with her mother.

    "She wasn't there for my first day of kindergarten. She wasn't there for senior prom or to talk about boys and give me that type of advice."

    Barker wishes she could have one last conversation with her mom.

    "I would tell my mom that I understand that she loved me. I miss her everyday and I hope to see her one day in heaven."

    Despite all that Johnson put her through, Barker says she forgives her mother's killer and hopes that he will find peace.

    Barker went on to say when she has children, especially a girl, she will finally have a mother-daughter bond that never got to have with her mother.

    http://www.walb.com/story/15142821/d...edirected=true

  4. #14
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    I received a reply from Ombudsman dh with GA DOC. Their office has no knowledge of an execution date for Johnson. I am still waiting on a reply from another department with the GA DOC, and a reply from the reporter credited with the post on WALB.

  5. #15
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Marcus Ray Johnson's execution date set

    According to a press release issued by the Georgia Department of Corrections, the Dougherty County Superior Court has ordered the execution of convicted murderer Marcus Ray Johnson.

    Johnson was sentenced to death for the 1994 murder of Angela Sizemore. The victim was found stabbed to death in Dougherty County.

    Greg Edwards, District Attorney for Dougherty County, prosecuted the case. He says he knew the execution date was nearing.

    "They had advised me earlier this year that this would be approximately the time that they would be looking at getting all orders completed of that matter," said Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards.

    The Court ordered the Department to carry out the execution on a date between October 5, 2011 and October 12, 2011. Commissioner Brian Owens has set the date for October 5, 2011 at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson at 7:00 p.m.

    Sizemore's daughter, Katie Barker, sent a statement to FOX 31 via Facebook stating, “My family and I are just trying to deal with the overwhelming emotion of it all.”

    If executed, Johnson will be the 30th inmate put to death by lethal injection.

    http://www.mysouthwestga.com/news/st...6#.TnyTAWPLq_I

  6. #16
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Sizemore family says time for killer to be executed

    Relatives of a Lee County murder victim say it's about time the killer was put to death.

    Marcus Ray Johnson is scheduled to be executed in ten days.

    In 1994 he brutally raped and murdered Angela Sizemore, a 34-year old single mother. Angela Sizemore's family said that it has been a long and often painful 17 years for them since her tragic murder. They feel that the October 5th execution of Ray Johnson will bring closure, and hopefully peace to the family.

    Angela Sizemore's relatives say they are ready for the October 5th execution of Marcus Ray Johnson.

    James Sizemore said "If anybody, in my opinion, deserves the death sentence, he does. And I think it's long overdue."

    James Sizemore is Angela Sizemore's uncle, and the family spokesperson as the execution date approaches.

    He says Angela Sizemore is remembered fondly. Sizemore said "She was a sweet girl."

    In March 1994 Sizemore met Johnson at a bar, and left with him. Prosecutors say Johnson took her to a small pond in Northwest Albany and killed her, and then left her body in her SUV in an East Albany field. James says the family is still haunted by the sadistic murder. Sizemore said "She was brutalized. A senseless killing. She put up a struggle to defend herself, and I think he stabbed her 40 something times. Impaled her, beat her up."

    It took four years before Johnson was tried for her murder and convicted. Now 13 years later Johnson has finally exhausted all his appeals.

    Sizemore said "They ready for it to be over. They think it should have happened a long time ago. But the system is so slow."

    Following the controversy of the Troy Davis execution last week, the Sizemore family feels Johnson's case should not bring so much opposition..

    Sizemore said "There was a little doubt on the other one. There is no doubt on this one. He was the murderer."

    And his execution they feel will bring closure after 17 years.

    Sizemore said "I'm sure it will bring a lot of relief to the family. Absolutely."

    They say it's time for justice to finally be served in Angela Sizemore's senseless death.

    James Sizemore said Angela's mother, sisters, and daughter plan to be in Jackson for the execution, set for 7PM on October 5th.

    The Georgia Attorney General's Office Monday said there have been no appeals filed by Marcus Ray Johnson's attorney, but the office spokesperson said it's common practice in death penalty cases to wait until the day of execution to file last minute appeals.

    http://www.walb.com/story/15552132/l...ting-bicyclist

  7. #17
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Johnson's clemency hearing has been set for Monday, October 3, 2011, at 9:00 a.m.

  8. #18
    Administrator Michael's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    1,515
    Clemency appointment set for Marcus Ray Johnson

    ALBANY, GA -- The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has invited representatives for condemned inmate Marcus Ray Johnson to meet with the Board on Monday, Oct. 3, 2011, at 9:00 a.m. to advocate for clemency on his behalf. Johnson is scheduled to die by lethal injection Oct. 5, 2011, at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia.

    On April 5, 1998, in the Superior Court of Dougherty County, Georgia, Marcus Ray Johnson was convicted of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, rape and aggravated battery. He was sentenced to death on the murder conviction.

    The Parole Board is the sole authority in Georgia for granting clemency to inmates. The Board may commute a death sentence to life without parole, to life or deny clemency.

    Source

  9. #19
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Advocates of condemned Georgia man see parallels between his case and Troy Davis

    Two weeks after Georgia put to death Troy Davis despite an international outcry from supporters who believe his conviction was based on faulty eyewitness testimony, state officials are preparing to execute another death row inmate who insists he did not commit the crime.

    Prosecutors say they have no doubt Marcus Ray Johnson raped and stabbed Angela Sizemore to death outside an Albany nightclub in March 1994, and appeals courts have upheld his conviction and death sentence. Johnson's defense attorneys say there are "troubling inconsistencies" in the evidence presented at trial, and claim eyewitness statements that linked him to the crime are unreliable.

    The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles heard arguments from Johnson's defense team Monday but did not immediately issue a decision. His attorneys also plan to ask a Georgia judge on Tuesday to order new DNA testing for Johnson to stave off the execution, and they say no physical evidence links Johnson to the woman's murder.

    "Based on this lack of forensic evidence identifying Mr. Johnson as the perpetrator, the state could only rely on circumstantial evidence consisting of four questionable eyewitness identifications of Mr. Johnson in the area where Ms. Sizemore's body was found," said a court motion filed last week by Johnson's attorneys.

    The concerns echo the arguments made by Davis' supporters. He spent years trying to persuade judges and Georgia officials that he was innocent before he was executed Sept. 21. Laura Moye of Amnesty International USA, the advocacy group which helped lead the movement to halt the Davis execution, said there were "troubling similarities" with the two cases.

    "We are deeply troubled to see the state of Georgia prepare to execute another prisoner while serious doubts about his guilt are unresolved," said Moye.

    Sizemore and Johnson were together the night of March 23, 1994 at an Albany nightclub called Fundamentals, where Johnson was playing pool. The two were both drinking heavily, witnesses said, and soon they were spotted kissing in one of the booths. They were spotted leaving the bar early the next morning, and headed south toward a bar where Johnson had worked.

    The next day, a man walking his dog discovered her battered body inside her white SUV parked behind an Albany apartment complex. She had been stabbed 41 times with a small, dull knife and suffered severe internal injuries when she was sexually assaulted with a pecan tree branch.

    Police quickly honed in on Johnson, and two witnesses told investigators they saw Johnson walking from the area where the victim's SUV was parked. He was arrested less than 24 hours after the killing.

    Johnson told authorities he led Sizemore to a grassy vacant lot where they had consensual sex, and that he then "kind of lost it" and punched her in the face during an argument. But Johnson said he immediately left after the argument and headed home to collapse on his front yard, where he woke up the next morning. He insisted that he did not kill her.

    DNA testing matched the victim's blood to Johnson's leather jacket, and authorities said his pocketknife matched the wounds discovered on her body. He also had scratches on his hands, arms and neck. But Johnson's lawyers say he wasn't involved in the brutality that claimed her life. They say investigators never found her blood on his knife, and only trace amounts of blood on his jacket.

    On Tuesday, Johnson's legal team is scheduled to ask a Dougherty County judge to order more DNA testing on samples collected at the scene, including saliva samples, fingernail clippings and several hairs collected from the crime scene that defense attorneys say wasn't tested.

    The filing also contends that bruises on her body indicate that multiple people were involved in the killing, and that new evidence indicates two weapons could have been used to stab her. Investigators who searched the car found a hair sample and fingerprint that matched neither Johnson nor Sizemore, only adding to the uncertainty of the case, the filing said.

    "The lingering questions regarding the identity of Ms. Sizemore's killer makes this case precisely the type that Georgia's DNA statute was enacted for," the filing said.

    State attorneys counter in court filings that Johnson should have filed this request sooner and contend that no DNA testing is warranted because the evidence at trial was overwhelming.

    Other arguments Johnson's attorneys have made over the years have been repeatedly rejected by appellate courts. An 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel turned down his arguments that his trial lawyers were ineffective because they failed to bring up evidence of his childhood problems. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled against a similar appeal, and the U.S. Supreme Court has twice refused to hear his case.

    Johnson's execution date was set just hours after Davis was put to death for the 1989 murder of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail, and the timing of the announcement frustrated many death penalty opponents.

    Davis said he was innocent, and his supporters said that several of the witnesses who helped convict him disputed all or parts of their testimony. Prosecutors and MacPhail's family, however, said justice was finally served after years of delays.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...gia-Execution/

  10. #20
    Senior Member Frequent Poster stixfix69's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    377
    Very curious to see if the Clemency board will be at all influenced by all the media attention brought by the Davis case.....Wouldn't surprise me if this guy gets a pass.......

Page 2 of 7 FirstFirst 1234 ... LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •