INDIANA prison inmate Cory Johnson will soon be put to death after being convicted of killing seven people in 1992.

Johnson is scheduled to be executed on January 14 but his lawyers have asked Donald Trump to commute his sentence to life in prison without parole as the inmate was diagnosed with coronavirus and is considered "intellectually disabled."

What did Cory Johnson do? 

Cory Johnson was convicted after being involved in murder schemes and a drug trafficking gang.

He was joined by fellow members James Roane and Richard Tipton in a drug trafficking conspiracy that lasted from 1989 to 1992.

Johnson shot one victim at close range after ordering him to place his head on a car steering wheel, according to the Justice department.

He shot and killed another victim at his home when he failed to pay for crack cocaine — and Johnson also murdered the victim’s sister and a male acquaintance.

In February 1993, a jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia found Johnson guilty of numerous federal offenses, including seven counts of capital murder.

The jury unanimously recommended seven death sentences, which the court imposed.

When is his execution date? 

Johnson will be executed on Thursday after sitting in death row for nearly 28 years.

His lawyers filed a clemency petition begging Trump to reconsider his sentence claiming that his intellectual capacity bars his execution.

Johnson’s lawyers claim that his intellect “cannot be seriously disputed, given the overwhelming evidence in his childhood records, IQ tests, expert evaluations, and the accounts of those who have known him throughout his life,” according to the Richmond Times.

According to the petition, the jury was not aware of Johnson’s disability at the time of his sentencing because his trial lawyers wrongfully claimed he was not intellectually disabled.

The US Supreme Court has maintained the premise that persons who are intellectually disabled cannot be executed.

His lawyer’s clemency petition goes into detail about the abuse he endured as a child both emotionally and physically to which they claim made him vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation.

Johnson was reportedly abandoned by his mother when he was 13-years-old to a residential facility for children with intellectual and emotional impairments.

When he turned 18, he was released into the community with very little skills and hardly any support.

The events led Johnson to find comfort in a New Jersey gang and he began dealing crack-cocaine to provide for himself.

Does he have coronavirus?

Johnson’s lawyers claim he has been fighting coronavirus while in prison and has been experiencing “debilitating symptoms.”

Despite his circumstances, his lawyers claim that he has been a “model prisoner” and deserves to live out the rest of his sentence in jail.

If the Supreme Court decides to execute him, Johnson would die less than a week before Trump leaves office.

There are currently over 50 prisoners all over the US awaiting death row and about 10 have formally been conducted.

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