On Tuesday evening, Texas death row inmate Matthew Lee Johnson was executed by lethal injection for the brutal 2012 murder of 76-year-old Nancy Harris, a great-grandmother who was doused in lighter fluid and set on fire during a convenience store robbery.
In a chilling final moment, Johnson turned to Harris’s family, who watched from behind the glass, and said. “As I look at each one of you, I can see her on that day. I please ask for your forgiveness. I never meant to hurt her.”
Johnson, 49, was pronounced dead at 6:53 p.m. CDT at the Huntsville state penitentiary, as confirmed by the Texas Department of Corrections. His execution was the fourth in Texas this year and one of two carried out across the U.S. on Tuesday.
Mother and grandmother Nancy Harris(76) was a White privileged clerk working at a gas station in Garland, Tx when a man came in and poured a flammable liquid on her. After taking cigarettes, a lighter and cash, he lit her on fire and walked out. She died days later. pic.twitter.com/bLXn02IYkM
— ExposingWhitePrivilege (@exposing_white) July 20, 2020
Back in May 2012, Johnson entered a Garland convenience store with a bottle of lighter fluid and a cigarette lighter. He poured the fluid on Harris, demanded money from the register, and then set her on fire before calmly walking out. Harris managed to stumble out of the store while her clothes were still on fire, screaming for help. A police officer nearby rushed in and used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames engulfing her body.
Despite her critical injuries, she managed to describe the attacker to police before dying five days later.
Court documents revealed that Johnson admitted to the crime and confessed shortly after his arrest. During his 2013 trial, he expressed deep remorse, telling jurors, “I hurt an innocent woman. I took a human being’s life. I was the cause of that. It was not my intentions to — to kill her or to hurt her, but I did.”
Johnson’s defense cited his long battle with drug addiction, claims of childhood abuse, and the fact that he was under the influence of $100 worth of crack cocaine at the time. His legal team argued that he did not intend to kill Harris, using the lighter fluid only as intimidation.
The execution of Matthew Lee Johnson has been carried out by lethal injection at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville. Death was pronounced at 6:53PM local time. The execution occurred without incident.
— Midwestern Americanist (@TheMidwesternA1) May 21, 2025
However, prosecutors pointed to Johnson’s criminal record and argued that his actions showed intent and cruelty. Harris’s injuries were extensive, burns covering her head, face, shoulders, and legs, and she went through immense pain before her death, according to medical testimony.
In the years since his sentencing, Johnson filed multiple appeals, including one to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear his case. His final appeal was denied just days before the execution, challenging the legality of his scheduled date and questioning the fairness of how Texas officials handled his case.
The execution fell on a grim anniversary, 13 years to the day Johnson attacked Harris.
Nancy Harris, described by her family as loving and deeply rooted in her community, had worked at that convenience store for over a decade. She was a mother of four, grandmother of 11, and great-grandmother of seven.
Now, as her family walks away from the execution chamber, they carry with them not just the pain of their loss, but the image of the man behind their pain who, in his final breath, claimed to see her too.
