A murderer and rapist who is due to be executed in the US early next month is "a kind, caring man" who is now "reformed", according to a Donegal woman who has struck up a friendship with him.
Thirteen years ago Ms Mary Stewart, from Ardeskin, signed on to get a prisoner pen pal from the US. She has been a devoted pen friend to Johnny L. Robinson since then.
"It took a while for Johnny to write to me; I sent a number of letters before he replied."
A strong friendship blossomed through the years. From his Florida cell Robinson likes to write about world issues and likes to have intelligent discussions, she says. "We were both against the war in Iraq and we agree abortion, divorce and the death penalty are wrong. But he disagrees with me about guns, he thinks it's alright to have a gun."
She sympathises with his living conditions in the prison. "It's hard being locked up on death row. His cell is a space of six by nine feet and he gets a total exercise of four hours a week. There is no air conditioning in his cell and he has to wet a towel and lie on it on the floor to stay cool. It can be very stressful."
Through all the years they have been writing to each other they never discussed why he is on death row. "I never asked him why he was in jail and he never told me. I only found out last week why he was convicted."
In August 1985 Robinson, then aged 33, was driving back from a party with a minor, 16-year-old Clinton Bernard Fields, when they found a woman standing next to her broken down car on the interstate highway. The woman was Ms Beverly St George, who was on her way to her son's custody hearing.
Johnny got out of his car, walked to her with a gun. He allegedly handcuffed her in his car, and drove her to Pelican Creek Cemetery along with Clinton Fields. Johnny claims he "accidentally" shot her in the cheek when she resisted his sexual advances. He then shot her again in the head, saying that he "had to" because no one would believe "I accidentally shot a white woman".
Clinton Fields also confessed to police "we had sex with the lady". He claims Robinson raped her and then ordered him to do so. A few days later, Johnny also robbed Ms Jennifer Bashford and three others. He then allegedly raped her after the robbery.
Police found the items stolen in his car. But these charges were dropped after he was convicted and sentence to death for first-degree murder, kidnapping and rape of Ms St George. During the trial a clinical psychiatrist, Dr Harvey Krop, said he believed Robinson had a personality disorder and a psychosexual disorder.
Ms Stewart disagrees. "No way, he is such a kind, caring man, I believe that he is reformed. I don't believe he has a psychosexual disorder or a personality disorder. Johnny is a Christian but not a Catholic, he even reads the Gospel. He is a family friend and my daughter has even written to him."
In November 2003 Florida Governor Mr Jeb Bush signed a document scheduling Robinson to be executed on February 4th.
Ms Stewart says she strongly believes in preserving life. "Life is precious from the womb to the tomb and no one has a right to destroy it. What if a man is innocent and he is executed?"