Former ranch hand who shot, killed 2 during burglary at Texas ranch set to die Tuesday evening

Former worker who shot 2 at Texas ranch set to die

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A former ranch hand is headed to the Texas death chamber for fatally shooting a ranch foreman and another man who interrupted a burglary nearly 24 years ago.

Gary Johnson has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his scheduled execution for the slayings of 28-year-old James Hazelton and Hazelton’s brother-in-law, 23-year-old Peter Sparagana. The pair were gunned down on an April 1986 night after investigating a call from a neighbor who said intruders had cut a chain and driven through the ranch’s gate.

Johnson’s attorneys say the 59-year-old inmate is nearly blind and too ill to be executed.

He would be the second Texas prisoner put to death this year.