Governor Tom Corbett signs an execution warrant for convicted child killer, Harve Lamar Johnson, of York. Johnson was convicted in 2009 of first degree for the vicious and brutal beating death of 2 year old Darisabel Baez.
The child died from her injuries on April 7, 2008, the day after police were called to the York City home she shared with her mother Neida Baez and Johson. The young girl suffered from approximately 150 injuries to her head and body.
The day before she died, police said Darisabel entered the bedroom her mother shared with Johnson, waking them up around 6 a.m. Johnson scolded and struck the child, ordering her to stand in the corner. Later that same day, Johnson again became angry and spanked the child because he believed she was playing on the stairs. Johnson then took Darisabel into her bedroom where he continued the beating for another 30 minutes, striking her, whipping her with an electrical cord and hitting her in the face with her small boot.
He mercilessly pummeled her while she lay crying on the floor until she lost consciousness. When the child stopped crying, Johnson carried Darisabel into the bathroom and placed her in a bathtub of running hot water. Johnson left the child in the bathtub while he went to get her clean clothes. When he returned, Johnson found the child lying face down in the tub.
Johnson came out of the bathroom carrying Darisabel’s wet, limp and unresponsive body. After arguing with Johnson about what happened, the child’s mother began CPR and told Johnson to call 911. When police arrived, the child’s mother told them Darisabel had fallen in the bathtub. She later told police the girl fell down a flight of stairs.
Johnson’s execution by lethal injection is scheduled for September 10, 2013. He is at the State Prison in Greene.
Johnson’s is the 27th execution warrant signed by Governor Corbett. Only three people have been executed in Pennsylvania since 1976. The last was Gary Heidnik, in July 1999. Heidnik kidnapped, tortured and raped six women and kept them prisoner in the basement of his Philadelphia home.