ATMORE, Ala. -- An Alabama man who had testified he killed his infant son at the family home in Atmore because he hated his wife was executed at a prison in that same community Thursday, declaring as his only last words: "Game over."
Christopher T. Johnson, 38, was administered a lethal injection and pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m. CDT Thursday at Holman prison, authorities said.
The 38-year-old condemned man, when asked whether he had any last words by Warden Tony Patterson, responded only: "Game over." Johnson had filed court papers in May saying he didn't want anyone to try to block the execution and authorities said he had made no eleventh-hour attempts to stop it.
Johnson, who represented himself during part of his trial, was convicted of the February 2005 beating and suffocation death of his 6-month-old son, Elias Ocean Johnson. He testified at trial that he hated his wife, the mother of the child, and didn't want to be near her. He also said in his testimony that he didn't want to worry about his wife's threats of putting him in jail for alimony or child support.
The mother of the slain child, Dana Johnson, now lives in Arizona and wasn't present at the execution.
At Holman, the condemned man lay strapped on a hospital-style gurney at the outset of the procedure, which began about 6 p.m. CDT as scheduled. The man's brother, Thomas Eugene Lagos, sat in the front row in the witness room and the two briefly flashed hand signals to each other.
Soon afterward, Christopher Johnson was seen speaking briefly to a corrections officer before closing eyes and appearing to lose consciousness as the drugs began flowing. His words could not be heard through a transparent partition and he twitched briefly and was motionless after that.
Lagos, after viewing the execution, declared to no one in particular with a handful of reporters present: "It's a hard thing to watch. It's not going to change anything. He's been waiting on this for a while."
Johnson was executed not far from where he lived in Atmore, a small community near Alabama's line with Florida and about 50 miles northeast of Mobile.
At Johnson's trial, prosecutors presented medical testimony that the baby had numerous injuries and had suffered three hard blows to his forehead.
The court also had heard that the infant was found unresponsive on a couch where Christopher Johnson had fallen asleep the day the child died, according to authorities. According to court records, Johnson told Atmore police that he earlier had tried to get the baby to stop crying by placing his hand over Elias' mouth and by sticking his fingers down the child's throat.
Johnson was the sixth person to be executed in Alabama this year and the fourth to die since the state changed one of the drugs in its execution cocktail from sodium thiopental to pentobarbital. The change followed a nationwide shortage of sodium thiopental.
Derrick O. Mason, 37, was administered a lethal injection at Holman on Sept. 22, executed for the 1994 shooting death of an Alabama store clerk during a robbery.
Earlier this week, Johnson was moved to a holding cell near the death chamber. As the execution hour loomed, he spent much of the day Thursday with his brother in a prison visitation area. For a last meal, Johnson had requested a turkey bologna sandwich with cheese, along with French fries.
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