The Execution of Michael Johnson is a documentary special which goes behind the scenes of the last 48 hours before the scheduled execution of Michael Johnson, convicted in the senseless killing of Jeff Wetterman 11 years earlier.
The documentary aired in South Africa for the first time on DStv's Crime & Investigation Network on Wednesday 18 June 2008, at 20h30. It is an hour long.
Repeats
Thursday 19 June: 02h30, 14h30
Sunday 22 June: 22h20
Monday 23 June: 04h20, 16h20
Synopsis
Bill Kurtis narrates this look at the last 48 hours before the scheduled execution of Michael Johnson, convicted in the senseless killing of Jeff Wetterman 11 years earlier.
In a home outside of Waco, Trish Wetterman McLean is preparing to drive to Death Row.
She wonders what it will be like to witness the execution of the man convicted of killing her husband. Will it bring her peace?
Patricia Johnson is also preparing for the drive to Huntsville. She is Michael Johnson's mother, and along with her daughter Michelle, will be visiting her son - possibly for the last time.
Her son is Michael Johnson, whom we see in his final interview, the day before his date with death. Johnson has been on death row since he was 19-years-old.
The crime that put him there happened 11 years earlier when 27-year-old Jeff Wetterman was gunned down in a senseless act of murder. Now all hope for a stay of execution lies with the United States Supreme Court.
The cameras capture the rising tension as Johnson is interviewed the day before his date with death and as his family fights to save him. Will Johnson die, or will he receive a last-minute stay of execution?
In a shocking turn of events, the story ends in a way no one could have foreseen.