Texas man gets death penalty for lighting clerk on fire

A Texas man was sentenced to death for lighting a 76-year-old gas station clerk on fire even after she cooperated during a robbery last year. A jury in Dallas County sentenced Matthew Lee Johnson, 38, to death Friday following his conviction of a heinous murder in Garland Texas in May 2012, according to the Dallas Morning News. Johnson admitted in court he felt like "scum" for what he did and deserved the death penalty, the newspaper reported.

Johnson entered a gas station holding a water bottle filled with lighter fluid and immediately doused Nancy Harris, as he demanded money, the outlet reported. Harris cooperated and gave Johnson cash, cigarettes, a lighter and even a ring off of her finger, the newspaper reported. But Johnson still lit his victim on fire, the News reported, pausing only to grab some candy on his way out the door. Harris was left in the store and tried to go outside for help where some police officers saw her and called an ambulance, the outlet reported. She was sent to a local hospital where she died a few days later, the outlet reported.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/texas-man-death-penalty-article-1.1511797