Angela Johnson, 41, from Forest City, was convicted by a federal jury on May 24, 2005 of 10 counts of murder in furtherance of a drug conspiracy and a continuing criminal enterprise. The jury handed down a death sentence on eight of the 10 counts, which involved the premeditated murder of two sisters, ages 6 and 10, the girls’ mother as well as Johnson’s former boyfriend. Johnson received a sentence of life in prison without parole for her role in the murder of a fifth victim, a federal witness. The individuals, who were murdered in the summer and fall of 1993, were buried in shallow graves in rural Cerro Gordo County.

Johnson still has other rights to appeal, meaning her execution is at least a year away.

During a 2004 trial, Dustin Honken, who was Johnson’s boyfriend at the time of the crimes, was convicted of the same murders. He was sentenced to death on Oct. 11, 2005. An appeal is pending.

While attempting to derail a methamphetamine investigation, Johnson lured four of the victims to their death by posing as a lost sales person in need of a phone book. Through her efforts, Honken, who would eventually pull the trigger and directly cause the deaths, was able to gain access to the victims’ home. A forced confession from one of the victims was videotaped — evidence Honken hoped would exonerate him in a drug charge — then the victims were driven to the remote area and murdered.

A fifth and final victim, a former boyfriend, was lured to a remote area by Johnson where Honken laid in wait with a baseball bat and a gun.

Johnson’s death sentence marked the first time in more than 50 years that a female had received such punishment in federal court. Bonnie Brown Heady was sentenced to death in 1953 for the kidnapping and murder of a six-year-old boy in Missouri. A total of 49 women have been executed under state laws since 1900.

Twenty-eight issues were raised in Johnson’s appeal. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed her convictions and the imposition of the death penalty. Her attorney then filed a petition for review by the high court. In a two-line order, the Supreme Court denied the petition Wednesday.

Johnson will have one year to file a petition for post-conviction relief, a form of constitutional challenge to her convictions and sentences. The U.S. Department of Justice will not schedule an execution date until Johnson has exhausted all such challenges.