Florida Sheriff Petitions For Death Warrant Online

The Polk County Sheriff's Office has taken to the Internet pleading with the Governor Charlie Crist to sign a death warrant for a murderer who has sat on death row for over 20 years. The average wait time for a death row inmate is 12 years.

On Wednesday the Sheriff's Office posted the petition at GoPetition.com. By Sunday afternoon more than 1200 had signed for Paul Beasley Johnson, 60, to be put to death. Sheriff Grady Judd has also used the social media network site Twitter to ask for people to sign the petition. Johnson was convicted of the 1981 murders of three people. One of those was Polk sheriff's Deputy Theron A. Burnham, 27. Darrell Ray Beasley, 21, and cab driver William Evans, 54, were also killed on January 8, 1981. Johnson has been on Death Row for more than 20 years, fighting for his life with appeal after appeal. The latest appeal was filed June 27, 2008. Johnson has been tried twice for the crimes and found guilty both times. The first trial in September 1981 was overturned because the jury had not been sequestered. The second trial took place in April 1988, with the same guilty conviction.