Death Row Would-Be Liver Donor Executed

Convicted murderer Gregory Scott Johnson did not receive his requested reprieve to donate part of his liver to his ailing sister. He died by injection Wednesday, as scheduled, at the Indiana State Prison for beating an 82-year-old woman to death in 1985.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels rejected Johnson’s request, as did the Supreme Court. Daniels said he found “no grounds to second guess years of court rulings or to reject the recommendation of the parole board.”

Medical experts had advised against Johnson donating part of his liver to his sister, who has nonalcoholic cirrhosis. They determined Johnson was an unsuitable donor because he was overweight and because his liver tested positively for antibodies against Hepatitis B. Experts also determined that it would be more beneficial for Johnson’s sister to receive a full liver as well as a kidney from someone else.

The family of Johnson’s murder victim doesn’t want him to be remembered for wanting to help his sister, though.

“I want him to be remembered as a man who viciously beat a sweet woman to death – not the man who tried to save his sister, but the man who killed Ruby Hutslar,” says the victim’s great-niece, Julie Woodard.