Crist signs death warrant for Polk deputy's killer

On death row for the slaying of a Polk County deputy, Paul Beasley Johnson filed multiple appeals that postponed his execution for nearly three decades.

Sheriff Grady Judd, frustrated over the delay, launched an online petition on Sept. 30 asking Gov. Charlie Crist to sign Johnson's death warrant.

Today, exactly a week after the campaign on GoPetition.com garnered more than 2,050 signatures, Judd got his wish.

Crist has signed Johnson's death warrant and the former Eagle Lake carpenter's execution has been scheduled for 6 p.m. on Nov. 4, according to a letter the governor sent to Union Correctional Institution Warden Steven Singer in Raiford.

"The bottom line to it, I'm pleased," Judd said. "I'm pleased that we're moving forward to carry out the law of the State of Florida, and I just appreciate the governor doing that."

About 3,000 people have contacted the governor's office through the online petition, a paper petition and letters seeking Johnson's execution, Judd said.

The signing of the warrant surprised Johnson's attorney, Terri Backhus, who said that her client has an appeal pending in the state Supreme Court. Backhus said she will file an appeal in federal court as well as motions to stay Johnson's execution.

"He has never even been through the federal process yet," she said, adding the governor usually only signs death warrants on inmates who have exhausted their state and federal appeals.

Although the signing of the warrant occurred shortly after the petition was posted online, attorneys had been reviewing death row cases, including Johnson's, for Crist's consideration for some time, governor's spokeswoman Erin Isaac said.

Judd said that he had talked to Crist about Johnson's case in August during the funeral of a Tampa police officer killed in the line of duty.

"He told me he would be all over it and he kept his word," Judd said.

Crist called Judd at 11:30 a.m. today to tell him the news.

"I said, 'Governor, I appreciate that more than you'll ever know. You did exactly what you told me you'd do,'" Judd said.

Johnson, 60, is expected to die by lethal injection because during his sentencing, he did not indicate he would opt for the state's other method of execution: the electric chair, Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said.

Johnson was convicted for the killing of Polk deputy Theron Burnham, 27, Winter Haven taxi driver William D. Evans, 55; and Lakeland painter Darrell Ray Beasley, 21, during an all-night crime spree on Jan. 9, 1981.

The three men were killed within a five-hour period. Evans was robbed and killed and his taxi set on fire in a citrus grove in Winter Haven. Beasley was robbed and slain after he gave his killer a ride from a Lakeland restaurant, and Burnham was shot to death with his own gun when he confronted the suspect on a desolate road near Lakeland Municipal Airport.

Johnson was tried and convicted twice of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and arson, records show. He was sentenced to death in 1981 and again in 1988 when he requested and received a second trial.

The average stay on death row is 12 1/2 years, Plessinger said. There are currently 386 inmates on death row. There have been 68 executions since the death penalty was reinstated in Florida in 1976.