Michael Dewayne Johnson (May 27, 1977 – October 19, 2006) was a criminal sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Jeff Wetterman.
On September 9, 1995, on his 17th birthday, David Noel Vest went to visit 18-year-old Michael Johnson at his home in Balch Springs, near Dallas, Texas.
The pair drove around for a while then headed towards the Texas coast during the night, aiming to spend the following day at the beach, at Corpus Christi, to celebrate Vest's birthday.
The service station was a family business, run by 27-year-old Jeff Wetterman, a tall man of 6 foot 7 inches.
A female employee of the Fastime service station would later testify that after the sound of the shot, she looked out and saw Wetterman sitting on the ground with a blond-haired man standing beside the passenger door of the Cadillac.
They sold the gun to a trucker for $35, which they used to buy gasoline, drinks, and cigarettes and then returned to the Dallas area later that day.
Vest asked him if he had the gun on him, and Johnson responded by lifting his shirt to display the pistol tucked into his trousers.
Johnson initially tried to say that he had an alibi and was at home on the day of the murder but after his arrest he admitted to a psychologist that he had been present at the time of the killing.
Physical evidence also placed him at the scene, in the form of DNA collected from hairs and cigarette butts found in the Cadillac.
Johnson's attorney appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that Vest's confession had been improperly suppressed by the prosecutors.
At 2:45 am on October 19, 2006, Johnson was found, unresponsive, in a pool of blood in his cell in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Polunsky Unit.
He had sliced open his right jugular vein and an artery inside his right elbow with a razor blade attached to a Popsicle stick, tied on with dental floss.
[4] Prison system spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said that 15 minutes before Johnson was discovered, he was talking to the staff and awaiting breakfast, and gave no indication he was contemplating suicide.