The Next to Die Watching death row

Joshua Bishop was executed on March 31, 2016 in Georgia.



Case Updates
    Friday, April 1st, 2016
  • Joshua Bishop was executed today in Georgia. More
  • Friday, March 11th, 2016
  • An execution has been scheduled in Georgia for Joshua Bishop on March 31. More
More updates ↓

Joshua Bishop murdered Leverett Morrison because he would not give up the keys to his Jeep.

Bishop, Morrison and another man, Mark Braxley, spent several hours drinking at a Milledgeville, Ga., bar on June 24, 1994, before deciding to go to Braxley's trailer to continue their evening. Read More ↓

Eventually, Morrison fell asleep. But he woke up when Bishop tried to fetch his keys out of his pocket, and they struggled and Bishop beat him with a wooden rod.

Bishop, 19 years old, and Braxley, 35, wrapped Morrison's body in a blanket, loaded him into the backseat of his own Jeep and drove to a nearby dumpster. They left Morrison, wrapped in a blanket, on the ground beside the dumpster, because he was too heavy to hoist inside.

Bishop and Braxley drove Morrison's jeep to some woods and set it on fire and then cleaned Baxley's trailer of any evidence they left behind.

Bishop confessed to killing Morrison, and he also admitted he and Braxley had killed another man, Rickey Lee Wills, two weeks earlier and buried his body near Braxley's trailer. Evidence of his role in killing Wills was admitted as aggravating evidence in his murder trial for killing Morrison.

Bishop, homeless at the time of the murder, later argued that his confession should not have been used, because he had been drinking and smoking crack cocaine just before he spoke with police. His lawyers also argued against the death sentence saying that Bishop was neglected from a young age and abandoned by his mother, evidence the jury did not hear.

The defense also argued that Bishop suffered an incompetent defense, conducted by a lawyer who had never handled a murder case before, and who called no witnesses.

Braxley is serving a life sentence for murder.


Context
Joshua Bishop was the 1,432nd person executed in the United States since 1976, the 63rd person executed in Georgia, and the 1,257th person executed by lethal injection.
198019851990199520002005201020152020JOSHUA BISHOPEXECUTIONS SINCE 1976 (1532)EXECUTIONS IN GEORGIA (76)EXECUTIONS BY LETHAL INJECTION (1352)MONTHLY EXECUTIONS1613


Credits
The Next to Die uses data from the Death Penalty Information Center combined with reporting from The Marshall Project and our partners.
Additional research by Maya Bernstein
Additional development by Gabe Isman
Additional design by Elan Kiderman
This project created in conjunction with