Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 25, 2006 0:53:32 GMT -5
State agrees to resentence death row inmate
A man on death row for the 1995 fatal horseshoe beating of his former
prison cellmate was resentenced Thursday to life in prison under a deal
with prosecutors intended to end his appeals.
Daniel M. Johnson, 51, agreed not to pursue any further appeals over
whether his attorney was ineffective in exchange for a sentence of life in
prison without parole.
Assistant Attorney General John Connor said after Thursday's hearing that
prosecutors agreed to the deal over concern that if a judge ruled in
Johnson's favor on the appeal, the murder conviction could be in jeopardy.
"We wanted to retain the integrity of the conviction and we thought that
it might be in jeopardy if we continued with this," he said.
Johnson was convicted in 1996 of killing Andrew Burgess, a man with whom
Johnson had had a sexual relationship.
Burgess was fatally beaten in a high-security section of the Montana State
Prison near the recreation yard. Guards said they saw Johnson run away
from a bathroom and found Burgess in a pool of blood, his head and face
beaten beyond recognition. He died two days later in a hospital.
The murder weapon, a bloody horseshoe, was found nearby.
Johnson was serving a 105-year sentence for a 1984 murder-for-hire at the
time of Burgess' death. He appealed his conviction to the state Supreme
Court, but lost in 1998. Johnson argued that District Judge Ted Mizner was
wrong to tell the jury they could consider as evidence of guilt the fact
that Johnson ran from the crime scene and later tried to hide the blood he
wore on his clothes.
The Supreme Court found nothing wrong with the judge's instructions
because they merely permitted jurors to consider those factors in reaching
a verdict.
The high court acknowledged the state's case against Johnson was
circumstantial because no one could actually see him striking Burgess
behind a half-door to the bathroom stall. But the evidence was strong and
convictions based on circumstantial evidence are proper, the court said.
Johnson filed a later appeal arguing that he had an ineffective lawyer.
His new attorneys did not dispute the killing occurred, but argued that
Johnson's original lawyer presented no evidence about mitigating
circumstances that should have been considered during sentencing.
In court before Mizner on Thursday, Johnson was apologetic.
"I'm sorry for all the pain I brought on the victim's family," he said.
"I'm sorry for the pain carried by my family. I'm sorry."
Johnson was 1 of 3 men on death row in Montana. The 2 remaining are Ronald
A. Smith and William J. Gollehon.
(source: Associated Press)
A man on death row for the 1995 fatal horseshoe beating of his former
prison cellmate was resentenced Thursday to life in prison under a deal
with prosecutors intended to end his appeals.
Daniel M. Johnson, 51, agreed not to pursue any further appeals over
whether his attorney was ineffective in exchange for a sentence of life in
prison without parole.
Assistant Attorney General John Connor said after Thursday's hearing that
prosecutors agreed to the deal over concern that if a judge ruled in
Johnson's favor on the appeal, the murder conviction could be in jeopardy.
"We wanted to retain the integrity of the conviction and we thought that
it might be in jeopardy if we continued with this," he said.
Johnson was convicted in 1996 of killing Andrew Burgess, a man with whom
Johnson had had a sexual relationship.
Burgess was fatally beaten in a high-security section of the Montana State
Prison near the recreation yard. Guards said they saw Johnson run away
from a bathroom and found Burgess in a pool of blood, his head and face
beaten beyond recognition. He died two days later in a hospital.
The murder weapon, a bloody horseshoe, was found nearby.
Johnson was serving a 105-year sentence for a 1984 murder-for-hire at the
time of Burgess' death. He appealed his conviction to the state Supreme
Court, but lost in 1998. Johnson argued that District Judge Ted Mizner was
wrong to tell the jury they could consider as evidence of guilt the fact
that Johnson ran from the crime scene and later tried to hide the blood he
wore on his clothes.
The Supreme Court found nothing wrong with the judge's instructions
because they merely permitted jurors to consider those factors in reaching
a verdict.
The high court acknowledged the state's case against Johnson was
circumstantial because no one could actually see him striking Burgess
behind a half-door to the bathroom stall. But the evidence was strong and
convictions based on circumstantial evidence are proper, the court said.
Johnson filed a later appeal arguing that he had an ineffective lawyer.
His new attorneys did not dispute the killing occurred, but argued that
Johnson's original lawyer presented no evidence about mitigating
circumstances that should have been considered during sentencing.
In court before Mizner on Thursday, Johnson was apologetic.
"I'm sorry for all the pain I brought on the victim's family," he said.
"I'm sorry for the pain carried by my family. I'm sorry."
Johnson was 1 of 3 men on death row in Montana. The 2 remaining are Ronald
A. Smith and William J. Gollehon.
(source: Associated Press)