Bloomington Peace Action Coalition, Just Peace Task force, Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington Peace and Social Concerns Committee, Bloomington Friends Meeting, David Keppel, Ally Donnelly, JL Kato,Hiromi Yoshida, Bill Breeden, Glenda Breeden,Gloria Stearns-Bruner, Aug. 6 2023, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, nuclear arsenal, 1945, World War II
Johnson, 52, was sentenced to death in 1993, when he was in his early 20s. Tried as a âdrug kingpinâ alongside two other men under the 1988 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, he was convicted of seven murders â a shocking body count that many would associate with the âworst of the worst.â Yet the case would not likely end in a death sentence today. There was significant proof that Johnson had an intellectual disability, which should have forbidden him from being sentenced to death. But reviewing courts refused to consider the evidence.
Regardless, Breedenâs task was not to judge Johnson for his crimes. As Johnsonâs spiritual adviser, his job was to prepare him to die. âI donât care who you are or what youâve done,â he said. âI think when youâre dying, life should give you the gift of being in the presence of somebody who cares, instead of just people who are paid to kill you.â Breeden knew that many on death row had little s