| Shermaine Johnson
On July 24, 1998, Shermaine Ali Johnson was sentenced to death for the capital murder of Hope Denise Hall. Hall's body was found on July 11, 1994 in her apartment with fifteen stab wounds and her throat slit. Police arrested Johnson for the rape and capital murder of Hall after a DNA database computer search matched his DNA to blood and semen found in Hall's apartment. Johnson was a sixteen-year-old at the time of the crime, but was certified to stand trial as an adult, allowing the jury to consider the death penalty.
Hall was a twenty-two-year-old mother and a part-time associate producer at a television station at the time of her death. Her mother's emotional testimony during trial brought a juror to tears, which may have countered Johnson's youthful and innocent appearance in the courtroom.
Johnson is already serving a 100-year sentence for the rape of two other women. Johnson has been on death row since February 22, 1999. |