May 16 (UPI) -- The state of Tennessee will execute death row inmate and convicted killer Donnie Johnson Thursday night, a day after he called himself a "monster" and asked for forgiveness.
Johnson was convicted for the 1984 murder of his wife, Connie, in which he suffocated her by pushing a trash bag into her throat. Now 68, Johnson is set to die at 7 p.m. Thursday.
"I truly regret my life and what I became in the process," Johnson wrote in a statement Wednesday issued by attorney Kelley Henry. "I am and will continue to carry the pain of all the grief that I have caused others to endure."
The statement was addressed to those affected "by the pain I have caused."
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"I would humbly ask for your forgiveness," he wrote. "Yet mere words just do not seem to be sufficient when I speak them!
"I was not a man but a monster."
Instead of a traditional last meal, Johnson has asked supporters to donate meals to the homeless, Henry said. Another Tennessee inmate executed in 2007, who'd asked the $20 allotment for his food be given to a homeless shelter, inspired Johnson's decision.
"Mr. Johnson realizes that his $20 allotment will not feed many homeless people," Henry said. "His request is that those who have supported him provide a meal to a homeless person."
His attorneys and supporters say Johnson has transformed himself while in prison, and ultimately became an elder in Seventh-day Adventist Church. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Tuesday denied his request for clemency.
