Death Row inmate wants to donate liver to sister

INDIANAPOLIS — Gregory Scott Johnson's sister suffers from liver disease and will die without a transplant. Johnson wants her to have his liver.

"Chances are I'm not going to be needing it very long," he said.

Johnson, 40, is scheduled to die by injection at 12:01 a.m. May 25 for the 1985 murder of 82-year-old Ruby Hutslar.

Harvesting organs after execution is impossible, some experts say, because the drugs that stop Johnson's heart will poison his organs. But one doctor said it is possible the liver still could be used.

Defense attorneys have petitioned the governor for a short reprieve that would allow time for medical tests to determine whether the organ is compatible with Johnson's sister, Deborah Otis, who suffers from steatohepatitis.

Although he is slated to die in less than two weeks, Johnson's attorneys said the law requires that Johnson's liver be harvested in a way that would allow him to survive.

Johnson's request has raised ethical questions about the propriety of harvesting organs from a condemned man facing execution.

For now, the state has no opinion on whether the reprieve ought to be granted, Deputy Attorney General Steve Creason said. The attorney general's office will weigh in after Johnson's attorneys argue their case today before the Indiana Parole Board.

The Indiana Department of Correction will do whatever the courts order, said Javairya Ahmed, a department spokeswoman .

For Johnson, it's a chance to give a life in exchange for the one he took. He said he hopes to leave something positive to the society in which he has wreaked so much havoc.

" 'I'm sorry' just doesn't cut it," he said. "All of the same stupid things I've done that I thought wasn't hurting anyone — at that time in my life, I didn't care."

Otis, 48, who is being cared for at an Anderson, Ind., nursing home, declined to be interviewed. Michelle Kraus, Johnson's attorney, said Otis is one of the few important people in Johnson's life.

"He is sincere when he says he is doing this for her and not as a last-minute, desperate attempt to delay his execution," Kraus said. "She is a mother and a grandmother. She has much to live for."

Kraus said doctors could take a piece of Johnson's liver in what is known as a "split-liver" transplant. The remainder of the organ would regenerate and, in time, Johnson would be healthy enough to be put to death.

That recuperation time could range from two weeks to two months, said Dr. Joseph Tector of the Indiana University School of Medicine. However, Tector said recipients' chances of survival are much better if they receive a whole liver.

And unlike some other experts, Tector said the lethal injection of potassium chloride used in Indiana would not necessarily render Johnson's liver unusable.

Johnson and his lawyers say he is willing to give the whole liver even if it means the procedure would kill him. But killing him by any means other than chemical injection is illegal.

Material from Knight Ridder Newspapers is included in this report.