The murder trial of John Ellis Johnson opened on Wednesday with the defense defying prosecutors to present anyone who can claim to have seen the 36-year-old defendant even firing a gun on the day he's alleged to have killed a man and wounded a second in separate Little Rock shootings.
Prosecutors Barbara Mariani and Ashley Clancy promised Pulaski County jurors a "mountain of evidence" to prove Johnson killed 50-year-old Keith Douglas Williams then shot James Washington about 13 hours later.
But they'll almost certainly have to make their case, first-degree murder and first-degree battery, without Washington. Despite multiple subpoenas and a promise he made to prosecutors two weeks ago to go to court, the 39-year-old parolee is on the lam.
He's currently being hunted by U.S. Marshals as a parole absconder. Washington also quit his job last week, his apartment appears abandoned, and he posted a video on Facebook on Friday, apparently aboard a bus he said was taking him to Oklahoma. Patrick Raper, an investigator with the prosecutor's office testified Wednesday about Washington's disappearance outside the presence of the six women and six men of the jury.
A warrant has been issued for Washington's arrest as a material witness in the murder trial, which resumes at 10:30 a.m. today.
Over defense objections, Judge Chris Piazza authorized prosecutors to show jurors evidence about how Washington identified Johnson as the man who shot him when he was interviewed by police.
Jurors haven't been told that Washington is an uncooperative fugitive, although defense attorney Willard Proctor strongly hinted the man won't appear before them.
"One of the things I want you to do is see if Mr. Washington shows up," Proctor said in his opening remarks, predicting the proof against his client will be light, more style than substance.
Proctor also called on jurors not to make too much of a remark police say Johnson made as he was being arrested.
"I was only the end and not what started the chain of events. It started higher than me," Johnson told detectives. He didn't elaborate and blocked any questioning by asking for a lawyer.
Context is everything, Proctor told jurors, saying they needed to hear the defense side before drawing any conclusions about the comment. He did not say whether Johnson would testify. The defendant has been an active participant in his defense, writing his own motions and questioning witnesses in pre-trial hearings.
But taking the stand would open him up to questioning about his criminal history, which dates back 18 years and includes convictions for forgery, theft by receiving, and possession of firearms and cocaine.
A defendant's criminal history is generally kept from jurors except in limited circumstances.
But Johnson has chosen to wear his stained jail scrubs during the trial despite having the right to appear in street clothes in front of the jury.
In the prosecution's opening statement, Mariani emphasized how similar the Williams and Washington shootings were. She said Washington was lucky to survive because bystanders rallied to call for help and get him medical attention.
"The defendant shot both Keith and James on the same day ... in the legs ... with the same gun," she said in her opening remarks. "And he left both Keith and James alone to die."
Williams was found dead in a vacant lot at 714 Dennison Street around sunrise on April 17, 2016, the prosecutor said. In his wake was a bloody trail that led to where he had been shot, a section of South Park Street directly under the Interstate 630 bridge, and where police found three 9 mm shell casings.
Williams was last seen alive about 2 a.m. with Johnson, Mariani told jurors. She said police have evidence, including a statement from Johnson, that Johnson shot Williams because the older man owed him money for drugs.
A motive for Washington's shooting was less clear. About 5 p.m., a gun-toting Johnson was seen running from where Washington had been shot at the Cedar Ridge West apartments on West 51st Street, according to police reports.
Washington told police he'd been at the apartments for his niece's birthday when a stranger walked up and asked if he was "Little James from southwest." When Washington said he was, the man stepped back a little ways, pulled a gun and opened fire.
Detectives arrested Johnson five days after the shootings once Washington picked him out of a photographic lineup as the man who had shot him.
A shooting Monday in Little Rock involved one of homicide victim Keith Williams' two children. Rahim Williams, 24, was shot in the chest in his home at 7209 W 43rd St. shortly before 11 p.m., according to a police report.
His 73-year-old uncle, who also lives at the home, told officers that he was on the phone in a bedroom when he heard shots. Lee Goynes said Williams then walked into the room bleeding from the chest.
Williams was critically wounded but able to tell investigators at the scene that he'd been shot by a man he'd only recently met and knew only as "B." He was also able to describe the gunman as driving a grey Dodge Charger.
Rahim Williams is not a witness in Johnson's case, and Little Rock police have not connected the Monday night shooting to his father's homicide.
Metro on 11/29/2018