Jason Scott Byram, 38, was executed by lethal injection April 23, 2004 at 6:15 p.m. in the Central Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina's death chamber for the May 23, 1993 murder of Julie Johnson, 36.
Julie Johnson had been an elementary school teacher for 12 years, specializing in emotionally handicapped children with special needs. In the early morning hours of May 23, 1993 she was dozing on her living room couch with her husband and three children asleep upstairs. Byram broke and entered through her kitchen window, took her purse and stole her van. Hours later, Byram came back to steal a TV and VCR. Upon his return, he woke Johnson and stabbed her repeatedly with a butcher knife from the kitchen. After she was stabbed, Johnson made it to the front yard where her husband and a police officer heard her final words. She died on the way to the hospital. When Byram was arrested later that afternoon, he admitted to police he had entered Johnson's home and stabbed her to keep her quiet, but said it was an accomplice named "Jim" who stabbed her repeatedly and killed her. Byram's fingerprint was found at the scene of the murder, and an eyewitness testified they saw him after the murder driving a van with blood on his shirt and no passengers. No evidence of an accomplice was ever found. The jury decided he had none.
Jason Scott Byram, 38, was executed by lethal injection April 23, 2004 at 6:15 p.m. in the Central Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina's death chamber for the May 23, 1993 murder of Julie Johnson, 36.
Julie Johnson had been an elementary school teacher for 12 years, specializing in emotionally handicapped children with special needs. In the early morning hours of May 23, 1993 she was dozing on her living room couch with her husband and three children asleep upstairs. Byram broke and entered through her kitchen window, took her purse and stole her van. Hours later, Byram came back to steal a TV and VCR. Upon his return, he woke Johnson and stabbed her repeatedly with a butcher knife from the kitchen. After she was stabbed, Johnson made it to the front yard where her husband and a police officer heard her final words. She died on the way to the hospital. When Byram was arrested later that afternoon, he admitted to police he had entered Johnson's home and stabbed her to keep her quiet, but said it was an accomplice named "Jim" who stabbed her repeatedly and killed her. Byram's fingerprint was found at the scene of the murder, and an eyewitness testified they saw him after the murder driving a van with blood on his shirt and no passengers. No evidence of an accomplice was ever found. The jury decided he had none.
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