FAYETTEVILLE — A judge denied Jonesboro school shooter Mitchell Scott Johnson’s motion to have his federal drug and firearms conviction vacated.
Johnson, 28, was convicted in U.S. District Court in January 2008 of being an unlawful user or addict of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm after having guns and marijuana in his possession during a traffic stop in Fayetteville in 2007.
Johnson was sentenced Sept. 4, 2008, to four years in prison and three years supervised release by U.S. District Judge Jimm Hendren. Johnson began serving the federal term in December 2011 after being paroled from state prison, where he was serving time on unrelated theft and drug charges. He is at Coleman Federal Correctional Institution, a medium security prison in Florida. His release date is May 23, 2015.
Legal Lingo
Vacate
To vacate a court order or judgment means to cancel it or render it null and void. State and federal rules of Civil Procedure give courts the authority to modify prior judgments.
Source: thefreedictionary.com
In a motion to vacate filed in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville in November 2010, Johnson contended the evidence was insufficient to support a finding of guilt that he was a user of or addicted to marijuana.
Johnson also questioned the reasonableness of the sentence imposed, specifically an upward departure from federal sentencing guidelines. He contended an appeals court failed to address his argument the upward departure from a guideline recommended 18 to 24 months to four years was improper.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in July 2009 upheld Hendren’s decision to give Johnson more time in federal prison because of his violent criminal history.
The judges said given Johnson’s involvement with drugs and firearms less than two years after his release from federal prison, the heinous nature of his previous crimes and his relatively lenient prior sentences, Hendren did not abuse his discretion by imposing the four-year sentence.
The conviction, according to Johnson was obtained using evidence from an unconstitutional search. He contended he was never read his Miranda rights and statements he made to police should not have been presented to the jury.
Johnson also contended his attorney, federal public defender Jack Schisler, was ineffective because he failed to move to suppress inadmissible evidence, failed to seek a change of venue in the face of media accounts of the case, failed to get a psychological exam and failed to object to Johnson’s juvenile convictions being used against him at sentencing as a basis for the upward departure from the sentencing guidelines.
Johnson also contended U.S. District Judge Jimm Hendren was prejudiced against him because the judge did not think Johnson served enough time for the Jonesboro school shootings.
The motion, seeking either a new trial or resentencing, was referred to Magistrate Judge Erin Setser. Setser’s report and recommendations to Hendren were adopted, and Johnson’s motion was dismissed Thursday.
The report and recommendations said the upward sentencing departure had already been raised and decided on appeal and could not be considered again. Hendren also found Johnson’s attorney acted appropriately and the decisions made were attributed to trial strategy.
The judge found Johnson failed to state any law or fact to refute the magistrate’s findings and was not prejudiced by the jury hearing his statements.
Johnson was 13 when he and an 11-year-old classmate, Andrew Golden, killed four girls and a teacher at Jonesboro Westside Middle School on March 24, 1998. Ten others were injured in the shooting.
Johnson was released from custody at age 21 in 2005.
The federal charges against Johnson stemmed from a New Year’s Day 2007 traffic stop in Fayetteville in which Johnson had less than an ounce of marijuana in his pocket and a loaded 9 mm pistol in a backpack in the back of the van in which he was riding. There was also a shotgun in the back of the van.
Hendren agreed with federal prosecutors Johnson should receive a stiffer punishment because of his criminal history.
Johnson and Justin Trammell were supposedly headed for California to make a new start when they were stopped. Police were watching Johnson because they’d gotten an anonymous tip he had 100 pounds of marijuana and several guns. Police didn’t find the large amount of marijuana.
Trammell was convicted at age 15 in Benton County of murdering his father with a crossbow.