Mack Hill was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of Donald Johnson
According to court documents Mack Hill was a partner with Donald Johnson in a number of businesses that failed. Hill would fatally shoot Donald Johnson, put his body into a barrel which was filled with concrete and dropped into a lake
Mack Hill would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Mack Hill would be executed by lethal injection on August 8 2001
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When Was Mack Hill Executed
Mack Hill was executed on August 8 2001
Mack Hill Case
The execution of a Lubbock man — who was spared three weeks ago as he ate his last meal — can proceed, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednes day. Just two hours before he was to receive lethal injection June 6, Mack Oran Hill was indefinitely spared by the court. A day earlier, his lawyers filed a writ of habeas corpus requesting a new trial.
On Wednesday, the court denied the writ and lifted the stay, clearing the way for a new execution date. District Judge Cecil Puryear of Lubbock, who oversaw Hill’s 1989 trial, will set the new date.
Hill, 47, received the death sentence for killing and robbing 43-year-old Donald F. Johnson of Lubbock in 1987. Hill shot Johnson, then cemented his body inside a 50-gallon barrel and dumped it in Amon Carter Lake near Bowie.
In their request for a new trial, as well as previous court filings, Hill and his attorneys alleged a pattern of misconduct by former Criminal District Attorney Travis Ware. They accuse Ware of making secret deals with witnesses in exchange for their testimony against Hill. Ware denies giving special consideration to any witnesses. The appeals court did not rule on the merits of Hill’s arguments. In its ruling, the court said the writ did not, as legally required, raise new issues or prove that rational jurors could not have found Hill guilty.
Prosecutors say Hill killed Johnson on March 2, 1987, in the course of a robbery, which made the case eligible for the death penalty. Herb Elliot, now 48, testified that Hill shot Johnson inside Johnson’s business, Don’s Paint and Body Shop. At his trial, Hill took the stand and blamed Johnson’s murder on Elliot, a key prosecution witness who admitted to helping dispose of the body.
During the punishment phase of Hill’s trial, prosecutors introduced evidence of his involvement in two aggravated robberies, drug sales, credit card fraud and parole violations. Hill was on parole when he was arrested for Johnson’s murder.
But attorneys on both sides said the most damaging claim involved the death of Hill’s father-in-law. Hill’s estranged wife testified that she saw Hill shoot her stepfather, Bob Murray, on Dec. 20, 1978, in his Van Zandt County home. She said Hill wrapped the body in a blanket and dropped it into a dry water well in Montague County, the same county where Johnson’s body was dumped.
Authorities recovered Murray’s skeleton from the rattlesnake-infested well on Aug. 11, 1981 — six years to the day before Johnson’s remains were discovered in the lake. The Van Zandt County district attorney never charged Hill with Murray’s murder. A fisherman found the barrel containing Johnson’s body Aug. 11, 1987. Johnson, his body wrapped in carpet and blankets secured by neckties, was wearing a Don’s Paint and Body Shop T-shirt. He was positively identified with dental records. The Texas Rangers arrested Hill in September 1987. Hill was charged with capital murder, and Elliot was charged with murder.
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