School Shooter Convicted on Gun Charge
This is UNBELIEVABLE!
School Shooter Convicted on Gun Charge
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - A federal jury convicted a 23-year-old man on an obscure weapons charge Tuesday, apparently unaware that 10 years ago he and another boy killed four classmates and a teacher in a schoolyard ambush.
Mitchell Johnson faces 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced in the next 45 days on a count of possessing a firearm while being a drug user. Through his attorney, Johnson declined to comment Tuesday.
Johnson was arrested on New Year's Day 2007 after police stopped his van and said they found a bag of marijuana in his pocket and a 9 mm pistol and a 20-gauge shotgun in two bags. Police said they stopped the van after getting an anonymous tip about drugs in the vehicle.
In 1998, Johnson, then 13, and 11-year-old schoolmate Andrew Golden opened fire as students and teachers left Jonesboro Westside Middle School after Golden pulled the fire alarm. The boys killed English teacher Shannon Wright and four students ages 11 and 12. They wounded 10 other people.
U.S. Attorney Bob Balfe told reporters after the verdict that lawyers picked the jury carefully. He said he was hopeful that if any jurors realized who Johnson was, they could separate the 1998 killings from last year's bust.
"We strongly believe that Mitchell Johnson is a person who should not have a gun," Balfe said. "Particularly, (he) shouldn't have a gun while using controlled substances."
Government lawyers did not bring up Johnson's violent past. The only clue during the two-day trial came during jury selection, when potential panelists were asked whether Johnson's name sounded familiar. Some jurors said they had heard the name but didn't know why.
Mitch Wright, the widower of the teacher killed March 24, 1998, watched Tuesday's court session along with his son Zane, who was 2 at the time of the shootings. The boy "wanted to see what this person looked like," Wright said during a break in the trial.
State courts sent Johnson and Golden to a juvenile prison until their 18th birthdays. Federal prosecutors then got them locked up until they turned 21. Johnson left prison with an "adjudicated" record - meaning he could own firearms.
Prosecutors in the trial that ended Tuesday presented evidence that Johnson regularly used marijuana. The defense offered drug tests that showed no drug usage by Johnson and testimony from witnesses who said they had never seen Johnson use drugs or possess drug paraphernalia.
A prosecution witness testified Tuesday that Johnson often smoked marijuana, but he later acknowledged that he lied under oath when he denied that he personally owned a gun.
Dustin David Wynboom said that he and Johnson smoked marijuana once every week or two and that they once smoked marijuana while working at a local Wal-Mart. Wynboom, 21, of Springdale, said he also saw Johnson's handgun and said Johnson told him "he needed it for protection, that people were after him."
Wynboom denied ever owning a handgun himself when questioned by Johnson's lawyer, John B. Schisler, prompting a long recess. When court resumed, Wynboom admitted he lied under oath.
"I was scared I was going to incriminate myself," Wynboom said.
Another Wal-Mart co-worker, Michael Lindsey, testified Johnson often discussed smoking marijuana and sometimes appeared to be high at work. Lindsey later admitted getting so drunk at a party with Johnson and other Wal-Mart employees that he fell down the stairs.
A senior chemist with the state Crime Laboratory took the stand again Tuesday and acknowledged that an initial exam of material found in Johnson's pocket came back negative for marijuana, although a lab worker mistakenly recorded the results as positive. Chemist Gary Dallas said he tested the material again last week, confirming that it was 21 grams of marijuana.
(This version CORRECTS the date of the school shooting to March 24, 1998, instead of March 25, 1998.)
School Shooter Convicted on Gun Charge
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - A federal jury convicted a 23-year-old man on an obscure weapons charge Tuesday, apparently unaware that 10 years ago he and another boy killed four classmates and a teacher in a schoolyard ambush.
Mitchell Johnson faces 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced in the next 45 days on a count of possessing a firearm while being a drug user. Through his attorney, Johnson declined to comment Tuesday.
Johnson was arrested on New Year's Day 2007 after police stopped his van and said they found a bag of marijuana in his pocket and a 9 mm pistol and a 20-gauge shotgun in two bags. Police said they stopped the van after getting an anonymous tip about drugs in the vehicle.
In 1998, Johnson, then 13, and 11-year-old schoolmate Andrew Golden opened fire as students and teachers left Jonesboro Westside Middle School after Golden pulled the fire alarm. The boys killed English teacher Shannon Wright and four students ages 11 and 12. They wounded 10 other people.
U.S. Attorney Bob Balfe told reporters after the verdict that lawyers picked the jury carefully. He said he was hopeful that if any jurors realized who Johnson was, they could separate the 1998 killings from last year's bust.
"We strongly believe that Mitchell Johnson is a person who should not have a gun," Balfe said. "Particularly, (he) shouldn't have a gun while using controlled substances."
Government lawyers did not bring up Johnson's violent past. The only clue during the two-day trial came during jury selection, when potential panelists were asked whether Johnson's name sounded familiar. Some jurors said they had heard the name but didn't know why.
Mitch Wright, the widower of the teacher killed March 24, 1998, watched Tuesday's court session along with his son Zane, who was 2 at the time of the shootings. The boy "wanted to see what this person looked like," Wright said during a break in the trial.
State courts sent Johnson and Golden to a juvenile prison until their 18th birthdays. Federal prosecutors then got them locked up until they turned 21. Johnson left prison with an "adjudicated" record - meaning he could own firearms.
Prosecutors in the trial that ended Tuesday presented evidence that Johnson regularly used marijuana. The defense offered drug tests that showed no drug usage by Johnson and testimony from witnesses who said they had never seen Johnson use drugs or possess drug paraphernalia.
A prosecution witness testified Tuesday that Johnson often smoked marijuana, but he later acknowledged that he lied under oath when he denied that he personally owned a gun.
Dustin David Wynboom said that he and Johnson smoked marijuana once every week or two and that they once smoked marijuana while working at a local Wal-Mart. Wynboom, 21, of Springdale, said he also saw Johnson's handgun and said Johnson told him "he needed it for protection, that people were after him."
Wynboom denied ever owning a handgun himself when questioned by Johnson's lawyer, John B. Schisler, prompting a long recess. When court resumed, Wynboom admitted he lied under oath.
"I was scared I was going to incriminate myself," Wynboom said.
Another Wal-Mart co-worker, Michael Lindsey, testified Johnson often discussed smoking marijuana and sometimes appeared to be high at work. Lindsey later admitted getting so drunk at a party with Johnson and other Wal-Mart employees that he fell down the stairs.
A senior chemist with the state Crime Laboratory took the stand again Tuesday and acknowledged that an initial exam of material found in Johnson's pocket came back negative for marijuana, although a lab worker mistakenly recorded the results as positive. Chemist Gary Dallas said he tested the material again last week, confirming that it was 21 grams of marijuana.
(This version CORRECTS the date of the school shooting to March 24, 1998, instead of March 25, 1998.)
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I'm glad he was convicted, obscure charge, shoddy evidence and all. 0 -
Sounds like a real scumbag. Still, this caught my eye:
quote:Lindsey later admitted getting so drunk at a party with Johnson and other Wal-Mart employees that he fell down the stairs.
Damn. I HOPE that's not criminal behavior or I'll have a few events to answer for myself.0 -
I vaguely remember this and have the thought in my head that the 11 year old was the one with the most confirmed hits. The "deadlier of the two" as it were. Could be wrong though.
Allus figgured he (Golden) would be recruited into some government "black ops" group. Think about the advantages a 12-13 year old assassin would have!
Dang there's a story in this somewhere. [:)]
Allen0 -
"faces 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced in the next 45 days on a count of possessing a firearm while being a drug user"
That is a bogus charge if I ever heard of one. I didn't know that was a felony.
I knew it was a felony to posess a firearm while committing a felony, such as, robbing a bank gets you five years, and posessing a firearm while you do it gets you five more years..
This guy richly deserves to be in jail but it hardly seems legal to lock him up for this. If the feds have it in for you they will probably get you.0 -
quote:Originally posted by spurgemastur
Sounds like a real scumbag. Still, this caught my eye:
quote:Lindsey later admitted getting so drunk at a party with Johnson and other Wal-Mart employees that he fell down the stairs.
Damn. I HOPE that's not criminal behavior or I'll have a few events to answer for myself.
[?]
Lindsey is a prosecution witness the defense attorney was trying to discredit with this reach. Johnson is the defendant.0 -
LOL ... more and more 'normal' news from 'normal' states makes Kalifornia look GREAT!
[:D]0 -
What's bogus here is that a mass murderer who plotted out the most efficient method of gunning down a bunch of children can legally own firearms the moment he walks out of the pen after only 8 yrs. IMO, the fact that he's walking free at all indicates he hasn't paid his debt to society.
That being said...
The story says he was released when he turned 21, which would've been 2005-2006. By the end of '06 he'd already established a reputation among his co-workers as a pistol toting drug user and was caught rolling down the road armed with drugs in his pocket.
This numb-nuts is a walking red flag and needs to be put away for anything possible before he becomes an even greater anti-gun poster boy. Save the "bogus charge" arguments for someone more deserving of our sympathy. Let this one sink.0 -
quote:Originally posted by zipperzap
LOL ... more and more 'normal' news from 'normal' states makes Kalifornia look GREAT!
[:D]That's sort of like Hillary receiving a boost to her self esteem when she hears some other woman called a biatch. [:D]0 -
Well being from Arkansas and in the area of the shooting when it happened, it is my belief that the Court System made the right decision.
A convicted Murderer, despite his/her age at the time of the act, should not be allowed to posses a firearm period. I agree they did thought the book at the guy. However, it is a state law the possesing firearms while possesing drugs will get you ten years in the clank. I feel certain that the families of those directed affected will agree with the courts findings. Especially seening as how this man was released at the age of 18, despite murdering several school age teens.
As to those who believe this guy did not know what he was doing at the time of the shooting. We all know if you shoot a deer with a 30-06 it most of the time will die and this young man was an avide hunter so we can assume that he intended on killing when he fired the rifle at the kids. The same assertion can be made when shoot a similar wieght teenage human, that person will be gravely injured.0
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