HAYNEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — The lawyers for a 19-year-old charged with capital murder at the slaying of an Alabama sheriff are seeking youthful-offender standing, which would restrict any jail time into a maximum of 3 decades.
Johnson was 18 when he had been accused of fatally shooting Lowndes County Sheriff John Williams Sr. from the face because the sheriff was trying to disperse loiterers in a Hayneville gas channel at November 2019. An arrest warrant alleged Johnson has been under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of this shooting.
He’s been held at the Elmore County Jail because he surrendered to police at the night of the deadly shooting once they started a manhunt to find him.
Johnson’s defense attorneys have contended that the adolescent did not know Williams was a sheriff, even however witnesses said Williams declared himself when he asked the crowd to disperse. Lt. Shawn Loughridge of this State Bureau of Investigation has declared the sheriff was at an unmarked county truck and didn’t possess his blue lights operating. He was sporting a baseball cap, coat and tan trousers in the time of this shooting.
If Johnson isn’t granted the standing and is convicted, he could face the death penalty or life in prison with no parole.
