Tyrone Johnson was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for the murder of a woman and her son. According to court documents Tyrone Johnson would fatally shoot Stephanie Willis and her young son Ricky over an argument about what to watch on television. Tyrone Johnson would call 911 saying he was being attacked by Stephanie Willis however when deputies arrived both victims were dead and Johnson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Tyrone Johnson 2021 Information
Tyrone Johnson was sentenced to death on November 17, 2021 and has yet been processed into the Florida Department of Corrections
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A Hillsborough County jury and judge have decided the man convicted of killing his girlfriend and her 10-year-old son, after a fight over what to watch on TV, should die for his actions.
Tyrone Johnson was convicted of first and second-degree murder for shooting Stephanie Willis and her young son, Ricky to death in October 2018.
On the day of the killings, 42-year-old Tyrone Terell Johnson called 911 claiming he was being attacked by Willis. Deputies responded to 4302 Mariners Cove Court in Tampa before 7 p.m. and found the victims inside the apartment where the three lived.
Johnson’s trial lasted just more than a week. The jury was shown dramatic video of Johnson’s interrogation after being arrested. They were also shown images of the scene, where Ricky and his mother’s bodies were found next to each other on the floor.
Johnson’s public defender, Jennifer Spradley, said Willis had been drinking that day, with an argument over changing the TV channel turning to personal insults, including ones about Johnson’s son’s suicide.
Johnson’s attorney claimed Stephanie said, “I see why your son killed himself like a [expletive] because you’re a little [expletive].”
After he was convicted, the jury heard what life has been like for the victims’ families since that day.
“The feeling of grief we feel is never-ending, every minute of every day,” said Ricky’s aunt Denise.
“We will never see him grow up, never see who he would have become,” offered his grandmother.
Johnson’s defense argued their client should get life – not death – for the murders, pointing to distress from his son’s suicide in 2017, along with PTSD from his time in the military.
“He went through some mental anguish in the Army,” said Johnson’s father.
“He did not come out of the Army the same person?” asked Kane.
“Oh no,” came the reply.
However, the jury made unanimous decisions that Johnson was guilty of Stephanie and Ricky’s murders and that he should die for his crimes.
Ricky’s grandparents, Amber and Robert Hewitt said they felt this was justice for Stephanie and Ricky. They were both pleased with the verdict – and surprised. His grandmother says her entire life, she’s always been against the death penalty until the issue hit home.
“Until you’re faced with having to determine when you’re put in the situation, it changes your mind, and it did for me,” Amber Hewitt said.
There are currently 21 people from Hillsborough County on Florida’s death row, making Johnson the 22, according to state records.
Using statistics from the Department Of Corrections from 1976 until present – the average time an inmate in Florida spends on death row is a little more than 16 years.
The last person sentenced to death in Hillsborough County was Granville Ritchie, whose sentence for the rape and murder of nine-year-old Felecia Williams in 2014 was handed down in 2020.
He hunted that boy down and murdered him. He also lied about what happed when he reported the murders to the police. His body language during the initial interrogation shows “acting” on top, and “relaxed” on the bottom. He was trying to get away with it the entire time, and had he, I can guarantee he’d have zero remorse for what he did. He’s still trying to weasel his way out of it. He’s a pathetic excuse of a man and he deserves to feel the same fright that woman and little boy felt X 1,000. Speaking of pathetic, it’s pathetic that taxpayer dollars pays for him to be alive now. The only silver lining is that he has to suffer knowing it’s coming.
I’m not saying the grace of Christ will not cover him, or that it is impossible for him to find salvation, but he needs to own up to his actions and face death like a man. I do not not judge or wish Hell upon anyone, as I am a sinner too, and sin is sin in the eyes of the Father, That said, he still deserves to leave Earth, as does anyone that maliciously takes the lives of others. You can repent all day, and that’s fine, but cold blooded murder should be an automatic execution, and a timely one, wherein there is no doubts who commits the heinous acts.