State vs Johnson - Johnson found guilty in 2011 murder of April Smith

A jury of five men and seven women found Craig Johnson, 48, guilty of first degree murder, use of a weapon to commit a felony and possession of a deadly weapon by a felon yesterday afternoon in Cheyenne County District Court.

Johnson was convicted for the death of April Smith, his girlfriend at the time. He could be punished with life in prison, according to Cheyenne County attorney Paul Schaub.

Following closing arguments, the case was submitted to the jury just after 11 a.m. Monday and the verdict came in around 2 p.m., after three hours of deliberation.

Kelly Breen and Todd Lancaster with the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy represented the defense while Corey O’Brien and George Welch, both assistant Nebraska attorneys general and special appointed Cheyenne County attorneys, represented the prosecution.

On Monday morning O’Brien worked to persuade the jury that Johnson killed his live-in girlfriend in her apartment at Sioux Meadows, eight miles west of Sidney, on or about Dec. 11, 2011 with premeditated malice. Johnson was overcome with jealousy over April Smith’s continuing relationship with her husband Ed Smith, from whom she was separated, O’Brien said.

Although April Smith wasn’t perfect, suffering from relationship issues and health problems, she was not a drug addict, he continued. During the trial the court learned she had a large amount of hydrocodone in her system at the time of her death.

“Regardless of the troubles of April Smith, she did not deserve the fate of December 11, 2011,” he said.

He reminded the jury that the victim suffered cuts and abrasions to much of her head and body as well as the gaping stab wound to her stomach and ligatures around her neck.

“Her death was not painless,” O’Brien said.

The attorney also mentioned the ties around her wrists and ankles and the evidence of strangulation and asphyxiation.

“There was bloodshed in just about every room of that house,” O’Brien said.

This wasn’t a robbery, because the victim’s purse containing bank cards as well as her car keys and jewelry were left untouched. He emphasized that the trash bag found with her blood and one of Johnson’s prints on it was used to asphyxiate her.

“This is as much of a murder weapon as this knife,” O’Brien said as he held up the piece of evidence.

The only things missing from the scene were Smith’s minivan and Johnson.

He reminded the jury that the victim’s blood was found on a knife in her kitchen as well as on items found in her minivan with Johnson when he was apprehended in Michigan days after her death.

The white hair of unidentified origin found in the victim’s right hand which the defense contended was of some significance could have come from anywhere, O’Brien said.

No other DNA at the scene matched the hair.

“It’s been suggested that Craig Johnson was merely scared, that he was innocent and he ran away because he was scared,” O’Brien said.

He mentioned the continued fighting between Johnson and April Smith and the tension that others felt between them at a game night with relatives Dec. 10, 2011, as well as the fight neighbors heard between Johnson and Smith later that night.

When a Michigan deputy attempted to pull Johnson over around 1,000 miles away from Cheyenne County days after Smith’s death, Johnson fled, at times traveling well over 100 miles per hour and turning off his headlights to evade capture.

“What you see is someone acting in desperation,” O’Brien said.

Drugs did not play a part in this, he said. Smith only took her prescription pain medicine when she needed it, he added.

Wouldn’t drug dealers or buyers bring their own weapons instead of grabbing a knife from the kitchen?, he asked.

Breen countered O’Brien’s arguments.

He contended that the victim struggled for her life. She had wounds on her arms and hands coupled with missing press-on nails.

“These are classic defense wounds,” Breen said.

Smith’s hands were not bound at the beginning of the struggle, he reminded the court, adding that no one who saw Johnson in the next few days noticed any injuries to his face or body.

The hairs and fibers found in the victim’s right hand were crucial evidence, he said.

“The state’s evidence is not compelling when April Smith is clutching a piece of her assailant in her right hand,” Breen said.

He suggested that this hair came from a fight that involved mutual hair pulling between Smith and another woman. The prosecution’s theory that the hair was there by coincidence was unlikely, he said.

“That’s as fantastic a story as I’ve ever heard,” Breen said.

Although Johnson and Smith argued on a regular basis, their arguments were always verbal, he claimed.

“We have no evidence that Craig Johnson committed violence at any time,” Breen said.

The fact that Ed Smith received a text message from April Smith’s phone on the afternoon of Dec. 11, 2011 meant she was still alive at that point, Breen contended.

The two spots of blood on Johnson’s t-shirt were not consistent with someone who was in a long fight with the victim, he added. He attempted to persuade the jury that the trash bag with Johnson’s fingerprint might not have been involved in the crime at all.

“I don’t think we have any strong evidence that this is a murder weapon,” Breen said.

The print on the bag might have resulted from normal activities.

“He put a garbage bag in a can,” Breen told the court.

Because her time of death was never pinned down, Breen contended that Smith was killed at some point on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 11, 2011. He asked the jury to imagine that Johnson found Smith’s body that evening and fled afterward, scared for himself and what would happen if he was caught.

“When he found his dead girlfriend, he fled to Michigan,” Breen said.

Abuse of prescription drugs played a part in this case, he added.

“You can’t say that this case didn’t involve those drugs,” Breen said.

For the victim to be ambulatory with the amount of drugs found in her system suggested that she’d built up a tolerance to the drug, Breen insisted. She didn’t have a large enough prescription to supply her with the amount of pills she must have taken to reach the levels found in her blood during the autopsy, he claimed.

He suggested that Smith’s death resulted from a drug deal gone bad.

On his way back from Michigan, Johnson expressed worry about his own safety.

“Is it so unrealistic to say he was scared for himself and unlawful persecution?” Breen asked.

O’Brien then discounted the defense’s theory about a fight between the victim and a white haired woman.

“The quiet group of hydrocodone killing grandmas?” O’Brien asked.

The defense’s tactic was to blame the victim and law enforcement, O’Brien said.

“Either Craig Johnson is one of the most unlucky men to ever walk this planet or the evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he killed April Smith,” O’Brien said.

The jury ultimately agreed with O’Brien.

Sentencing is scheduled for 4 p.m., Feb. 5.