Bio 

Elliott Rod Johnson was born in 1948. He lived in Texas before the crime and was described in reporting as a resident of Port Arthur, Texas. By the early 1980s, Johnson became involved in the robbery that led to the killing of Beaumont jeweler Joseph Granado. Later reporting also described Johnson as having a history of drug use, and Texas officials said the execution process was complicated because of damage to his veins.

Murder Story

On April 8, 1982, Elliott Rod Johnson and three accomplices robbed the jewelry store of 67-year-old Joseph Granado in Beaumont, Texas. During the robbery, Granado was shot at close range. Johnson was later charged with capital murder for killing Granado while committing or attempting to commit armed robbery. In 1983, he was convicted and sentenced to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in 1984, and the United States Supreme Court denied review on October 7, 1985.

Johnson’s execution was originally scheduled for December 1985, but a federal judge stayed it shortly before it was to be carried out. His attorneys argued that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. Johnson continued pursuing federal habeas relief. In 1986, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a certificate of probable cause and stayed his execution while reviewing legal claims. One major issue involved whether jury instructions could have allowed a death sentence without a required finding that Johnson himself killed, attempted to kill, or intended a killing to occur.

Later in 1986, the Fifth Circuit rejected his claims, affirmed the denial of federal habeas relief, and dissolved the stay of execution. In 1987, the court again denied further relief and refused to stay the execution date. Elliott Rod Johnson was executed by lethal injection in Texas on June 24, 1987. He was 38 years old. Contemporary reporting stated that the execution took nearly an hour because officials had difficulty finding usable veins. He reportedly apologized to his family and friends for the trouble he had caused.