Doubts Cast as Execution Nears

A woman’s confession that she killed a state trooper has come days before a man is to be executed for that crime, but South Carolina Atty. Gen. Charlie Condon said in Columbia that the execution of Richard Charles Johnson should proceed on Friday because the woman has a history of mental illness and is not credible. Trooper Bruce K. Smalls was shot in 1985 after pulling over a motor home that Johnson and the woman were in. Johnson, 36, was convicted with the help of statements from Connie Sue Hess at his first trial, and her statement that he killed Smalls was used against Johnson at his second trial. But Hess said in a sworn statement last week she killed Smalls.