Inmate Takes His Own Life Before the State Can Do It For Him

From the Lone Star State (where 22 people have been put to death this year alone):

LIVINGSTON, Texas (AP) -- A convicted killer facing lethal injection beat the executioner to it Thursday, committing suicide by slitting his throat and arm with a blade in his Texas death row cell 15 hours before he was supposed to die.

Michael Dewayne Johnson, 29, was found in a pool of blood by officers making routine checks on him every 15 minutes, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Johnson apparently scrawled words in blood on the wall of his cell, but prison officials would not say what he wrote.

The message in blood, in my opinion, makes this story even creepier than it already would have been. Creepy or not, though, part of me applauds Johnson for sticking it to the man. I think the thing I find most horrifying about capital punishment is the thought of someone being told, "You will die at 1:00 a.m. on Friday October 20, 2006." I can't fault someone for wanting to beat the clock.

Johnson's lawyer had some interesting things to say:

His lawyer, Greg White, said he had seen no indication that the condemned man was despondent.

"I've never seen him not in good spirits," White said. "I'm not trained in those things, but just from a common person's standpoint, we just never had conversation that he was near the end and `I'm doomed' and any of that kind of stuff."

White must not have known that his client was hours away from being executed.