© 2025 Northeast Indiana Public Radio
A 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Public File 89.1 WBOI

Listen Now · on iPhone · on Android
NPR News and Diverse Music
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Support for WBOI.org comes from:
WBOI is back on all platforms after the power outage, but our transmitter is not yet back to full strength. You might experience some interference over the air.
All News

2nd Federal Death Row Inmate Diagnosed With COVID-19

Courtesy of Attorneys for Corey Johnson

Federal Death Row inmate Corey Johnson has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, according to a statement from his attorneys.

Cory Johnson is scheduled for execution by lethal injection at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. on Jan. 14.

"Not surprisingly, given the growing outbreak on federal death row, Corey Johnson also has now tested positive for COVID-19. The government must stop conducting executions during a COVID-19 outbreak in the facility, and we have called on the Department of Justice to withdraw Mr. Johnson’s execution date," Johnson's attorneys said in a statement Friday.

On Wednesday evening, another federal death row inmate, Dustin Higgs, tested positive for the virus. He last spoke with his attorneys on Monday.

READ MORE: US Inmate Scheduled To Be Executed Tests Positive For Virus

“He was exhibiting some signs at that point of coughing and things like that. He also has asthma, so that makes this a much more dire situation," said Higgs' attorney Shawn Nolan.

Nolan also asked the Department of Justice to withdraw his client's execution date. Nolan said if the DOJ doesn't comply, he will file suit in in court.

Higgs was convicted in 2000 for his role in the shooting deaths of three women in Maryland.  Johnson was convicted of murdering seven people over a three-year span in the late '80s and early '90s in Virginia.