Dustin Honken

Dustin Honken, her former boyfriend, was also sentenced to death for his role in the murders. The execution of Honken was scheduled for January 2020, but is on hold while federal courts determine whether the proposed manner of execution is allowed by the Federal Death Penalty Act.

On July 25, 2019, United States Attorney General William Barr approved the use of the single drug pentobarbital for federal executions, and an execution date of January 15, 2020 was set for Honken. On November 20, 2019, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan issued a preliminary injunction preventing the resumption of federal executions. Honken and the other three plaintiffs in the case argued that the use of pentobarbital may violate the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994. On December 5, 2019, the Supreme Court denied a stay of Chutkan's injunction while the US Court of Appeals reviews Chutkan's decision, which will take several months. Honken is currently imprisoned in the United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute.

On March 23, 2012, federal judge Mark W. Bennett vacated Johnson's death sentence, citing a failure by her attorneys to introduce evidence about her mental state. The vacating of her death sentences did not affect her convictions in the case. Prosecutors did not pursue another death penalty sentence, so Johnson was re-sentenced to life without parole in December 2014. Federal authorities had stopped pursuing the death penalty for Johnson.

In 2005, Johnson was found guilty of involvement in the murders, which had all been committed in Iowa. Capital punishment has been abolished in Iowa since 1965, but Johnson was charged under federal law because three of the victims were witnesses in a federal methamphetamine prosecution of Honken. The jury that convicted her handed down four death sentences. The presiding judge stated "I am troubled by the lack of certainty in the record concerning the precise involvement of Angela Johnson in these crimes". Under federal law, however, the judge is bound by the jury's verdict. In July 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld the conviction, finding sufficient evidence to conclude that Johnson had participated in the murders.

In 1993, Johnson lured four victims to their death by posing as a lost salesperson in need of a phone book, gaining entrance into the victim's home and allowing access for Honken. Honken then videotaped a forced confession from one of the victims in hopes of exoneration from a previous drug charge. Afterwards, the victims were taken to a remote location before being murdered. The fifth victim, who previously dated Johnson and allegedly owed drug money to Honken, was also baited by Johnson when she requested they meet at a local country club where she was working. They then drove to a local farm where Honken was waiting with a loaded handgun. The Court of Appeals described her participation thus: "The killings resulted from her substantial participation in the murders; namely, that she procured the murder weapon, participated in the hunt for Nicholson, employed a ruse so that she and Honken could gain entry to the Duncans' residence, bound and gagged at least one of the victims, and exploited her relationship with DeGeus to lure him to the remote location where he was killed."

Her former boyfriend, Dustin Honken (born March 22, 1968), is currently on death row, convicted of five counts of Continuing Criminal Enterprise murder. Although it was Honken who pulled the trigger, killing three adults and two children, Johnson received the death penalty for four of the victims, while Honken was sentenced to death for only the two children.

Angela Jane Johnson (born Forest City, Iowa) was the first woman sentenced to death by a United States federal jury since the 1950s. She was sentenced to death for her role in the murders of five people in 1993. She was re-sentenced to life without parole in December 2014.