Johnie Cox was executed by the State of Arkansas for three murders
According to court documents Johnie Cox would murder Marie Sullens, 68; Margaret Brown, 34; and Billy Brown, 32. Johnie Cox would give no reason behind the murders other than he wanted to send them to heaven
Johnie Cox would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Johnie Cox would be executed by lethal injection on February 16 1999
Johnie Cox Case
Johnie Michael Cox, convicted of killing three people including his step grandmother, has been put to death in Arkansas. He was 42.
Cox killed 68-year-old Marie Sullens, 68-year-old Margaret Brown and 32-year-old Billy Brown, in White County in northeast Arkansas on Nov. 1, 1989 — All Saints Day — a date Cox had marked in red on his calendar. Asked if he had a final statement, Cox said, ‘Yes, I’m anxious. Please release me and let me go.’ He was pronounced dead at 9:11 p.m. today, 10 minutes after the a lethal dose of chemicals was injected into his system.
He was the 18th person executed by Arkansas since the death penalty was reauthorized in 1976. No motive was ever uncovered for the killings, other than a statement Cox made that he killed the three on All Saints Day because he wanted them to go to heaven. Two members of the victims’ family witness the execution, but left the prison without making a statement.
Another convicted killer had been scheduled to be executed the same night as Cox at the Cummins Unit, but on Feb. 5 the governor announced he intends to commute the sentence of Bobby Ray Fretwell. Huckabee said he was swayed by a juror in the trial of Fretwell who said he made a mistake in voting for the death penalty. Fretwell was convicted in the 1985 shooting death of 81-year-old Sherman Sullins at Marshall. There is a 30-day waiting period for public comment and relatives of Sullins are hoping to change Huckabee’s mind about the commutation
