Woman sentenced in newborn's death
Repost
wire:
Woman sentenced in newborn's death
By AP Wire Services, 2/4/2000
Alfred, Maine
Woman sentenced in newborn's death
A woman who pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in the death of her
newborn
daughter was sentenced yesterday to two years in jail. Jody Johnson
entered her
plea last summer in York County Superior Court. Line workers found her
baby's
body wrapped in a plastic bag in a ditch along the Boom Road in Saco in
June
1997. The child had been dead for about a month. Manslaughter carries a
maximum
term of 40 years in prison. Johnson's lawyers had argued that Johnson
did not
remember what happened to her baby girl, and that she had been a
battered woman
who was in the depths of depression when the baby died. (AP)
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The following appears courtesy of the 2/4/00 online edition of The
Biddeford
Journal tribune newspaper:
Judge: Johnson's sentence a balancing act
By JOSH WILLIAMSON
Journal Tribune Staff Writer
ALFRED -- A woman will serve two years in prison for killing her newborn
baby
in 1997, leaving the body in her Saco basement for months, then having
her
boyfriend unknowingly dispose of the rotting corpse.
Jody Johnson, 41, was sentenced Thursday in York County Superior Court
by Judge
Arthur Brennan, who said a number of mitigating factors in the case
needed to
be considered in deciding an appropriate punishment. Johnson pleaded
guilty to
manslaughter last summer.
Before the newborn baby's death, Johnson had suffered from extreme
domestic
abuse and sexual torture by her boyfriend Paul Martel, defense attorney
Edmund
Folsom said in court.
Brennan said an extensive psychological report indicated that Johnson
was "in a
state of mental dissociation," at the time of the crime as a result of
this
abuse. "She was there, but not really there," Brennan said.
As evidence of this disturbed state of mind, Johnson hid any signs of
her
pregnancy from Martel or her family. She gave birth to her second
daughter in
secret. Forensic evidence, in the form of a sock tied around the
infant's neck,
indicates the child probably was strangled to death shortly after birth.
Johnson has no recollection of strangling her, Folsom said she left the
body in
her basement for up to four months. She then asked Martel to dispose of
the
garbage bag that contained the body, telling him the bag contained
rotting
food.
Because of the strong odor, Martel threw the bag by the side of Boom
Road in
Saco, where the body was discovered by a cable television worker on June
30,
1997.
Brennan said the crime clearly demanded punishment, and said the case
would
deserve a maximum of 15 years incarceration without any mitigating
factors.
However, when considering the abuse Johnson had suffered, and the
unbalanced
condition it left her in, Brennan said the shorter sentence was more
appropriate.
And in the 2 1/2 years since her arrest and subsequent release on bail
to her
parents' home in Windham, Brennan said Johnson has proven to be an
"excellent
candidate for rehabilitation," undergoing successful psychological
counseling
and caring for her elderly parents, the judge said.
"I think Mr. Folsom is right that there is extraordinarily little chance
she
would ever do anything like this again," Brennan said.
He said the case was unique in many ways, and it was a challenge of
balancing
society's need for punishment with the fact that Johnson herself was a
victim.
"The real problem here is striking that balance," Brennan said. "I think
(two
years) is a long enough period of time."
Johnson's 81-year-old father, Philip Johnson of Windham, said his
daughter is a
good person who has helped care for both her elderly parents and an
elderly
neighbor in Windham in the past two years.
Johnson said he and other family members never recognized the emotional
distress his daughter was in from living with Martel, although he said
he knew
the relationship was not a good one.
"In July of 1997, man's punishment of my daughter and family began,"
Johnson
said. "God's punishment was already under way."
Speaking on her own behalf, Johnson said she has never stopped thinking
about
the baby girl, and has never forgiven herself for her death.
"I have trouble understanding why this happened to me, and I can't go
back to
understand what was in my mind on that day," she said. "It is not lost
on me
that if I had not murdered my baby, she would be with me now. I would
know the
color of her eyes, and would have seen her first steps."
Johnson spoke of the support her family and friends, along with her
counselors,
have shown her.
"I am amazed at their forgiveness," she said. "It's inconceivable to me
that
these people would now have anything to do with me, or give me the
outpouring
of love and support I've had in that time. I cannot forgive myself, and
therefore cannot ask forgiveness from God."
As part of the sentence, Johnson will serve six years of probation
following
her release. She will be required to continue with psychological
counseling,
and will also be required to perform at least four hours a week in
public
service.
As the courtroom was clearing, Johnson broke down, crying loudly with
her head
down on a table.
For a few minutes, those left in the hushed chambers waited while her
sobs
receded. She then hugged her father before being escorted out by a court
official.
"Chin up Dad," she said. "You have got the list of everything you need,
right?"
------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 2/5/00 online edition of The
Portland
Press-Herald newspaper:
Saturday, February 5, 2000
Mother's sentence too light, critics say
By ANDREW D. RUSSELL, Staff Writer
The two-year prison sentence given to a woman who strangled her newborn
baby
was criticized as too lenient Friday by people concerned about
protecting the
rights of victims.
Prosecutors had recommended that Jody Johnson receive a minimum of five
years
in prison after pleading guilty to strangling her newborn baby girl in
1997 and
dumping the body in a trash bag in Saco.
Instead, during a sentencing hearing on Thursday, Superior Court Justice
G.
Arthur Brennan gave the 40-year-old Johnson just two years.
Critics complained that Johnson's sentence is less than the state
average for
child killers, and illustrates the need for a pending state law that
would
provide tougher sentences for people who kill infants or toddlers.
"This sentence basically sends a message that a baby's life is not
respected,"
said Debbie O'Brien, president of the Maine chapter of Parents of
Murdered
Children. "It's like that little baby stuffed in a garbage bag was worth
nothing."
Brennan could not be reached Friday for comment. His secretary at the
Alfred
courthouse said he was out of the office and would not return until
Monday.
In court Thursday, however, the judge said he was swayed by Johnson's
obvious
remorse for her crime, and a psychiatrist's report that said Johnson
suffered
from an abnormal state of mind at the time of the baby's death.
Johnson, a former church bookkeeper, was arrested in July 1997 after
cable TV
workers found the decomposed body of her 2-day-old baby in a torn trash
bag on
the side of Boom Road in Saco.
Johnson initially pleaded innocent to murder. She agreed to plead guilty
to the
less serious charge of manslaughter after questions arose over her state
of
mind and how the baby died.
Because of these factors, the state Attorney General's Office sought a
20-year
prison sentence for Johnson, with all but five years suspended. In the
end,
Brennan chose a five-year maximum sentence, with all but two years
suspended,
followed by six years probation.
Pamela Belisle, whose 4-month-old son was killed by his baby-sitter in
1998,
said she was appalled at the sentence.
"This was a horrible, heinous crime," she said. "Jody Johnson got off
very
light."
Belisle said she hopes the Johnson sentence will give further impetus to
her
effort to get a law passed requiring harsher sentences for convicted
child
killers.
The law, known as "Jake's Law" for her deceased son, would require
judges to
consider the victim's age when sentencing a person convicted of
manslaughter
against a child under 6.
The law has won the support of a legislative committee and is expected
to be
voted on by the state Senate later this month, said Sen. Peggy
Pendleton,
D-Scarborough, who sponsored the bill.
Victims' advocates say Johnson's sentence seems particularly outrageous
when
compared to the 10-year sentence given last month to Virginia Stanley,
the Old
Orchard Beach baby-sitter who pleaded guilty to shaking Belisle's baby
to
death.
But both prosecutors and Johnson's defense lawyer said it would unfair
to
compare the Johnson case with the Stanley case.
In the Stanley case, the judge was dealing with a defendant who had a
history
of violence toward children. Johnson had no such history, said her
lawyer,
James G. Boulos.
Boulos said he believes Brennan was influenced by the report by Dr.
Bruce Kerr,
who examined Johnson and concluded she suffered from an abnormal state
of mind
at the time of the baby's death.
"On the surface it would appear to be a very lenient sentence," Boulos
said.
"But I have a feeling that even if the judge had given what the attorney
general recommended, he would still be criticized."
Prosecutors said they would have preferred a stiffer sentence, but they
understood why the judge ruled the way he did.
"We obviously respect the court's prerogative to make the call," Deputy
Attorney General Paul Gauvreau said Friday.
Saddened by the death of the baby girl and the way she was discarded,
local
residents erected a memorial of teddy bears, cards and a cross at the
site
where the body was found. All that remained of that memorial Friday was
a faded
pink ribbon, tied to a bush.
------------------------------------------
The following appears couirtesy of the 2/4/00 online edition of The
Portland
Press-Herald newspaper:
Friday, February 4, 2000
Johnson gets two years for strangling her infant
By TED COHEN, Staff Writer
ALFRED — Jody Johnson, who strangled her newborn baby in 1997 and dumped
the
body in a trash bag, broke into sobs Thursday as she asked a judge for
mercy.
The judge heeded her plea.
"If I had not murdered my child, I'd be getting ready to celebrate her
third
birthday," Johnson told Superior Court Justice G. Arthur Brennan. "I'll
never
know whether she'd have curls or straight hair, what her favorite color
would
be, or when she would walk."
Brennan, who could have sentenced Johnson to 40 years in prison, instead
gave
her two years. With so-called good time, she could serve 20 months
behind bars.
Typically, Brennan said, a case such as this would warrant 15 years. But
he
said it's clear that Johnson is remorseful, unlikely to commit another
violent
crime, and has already begun efforts to take responsibility for her
crime.
Since her arrest, Johnson, 40, has met regularly with her probation
officer and
has been taking care of her elderly parents, with whom she lives in
Windham.
Though Johnson's probation officer asked for probation with no prison
time,
Brennan drew the line. "Straight probation would be seen as letting her
off,"
he said. In addition to the prison term, he added six years of
probation,
including four hours a week of community service.
The widely publicized case began in July 1997, when cable TV workers
found a
torn trash bag on the side of Boom Road in Saco. The bag contained an
infant's
body.
The state's medical examiner said the baby was about 2 days old and had
been
strangled. A sock was found tied around the infant's neck.
Trash found in the bag with the body – including a Head Start permission
slip
for Johnson's then-5-year-old daughter, Hazel, and a tax bill addressed
to her
boyfriend – led police to Johnson. She was arrested July 3, 1997, three
days
after the baby's body was found.
Johnson, a former church bookkeeper, was initially charged with murder,
but
prosecutors dropped the more serious charge in return for a guilty plea
to
manslaughter after questions arose over Johnson's state of mind and how
the
baby died.
Prosecutors said it was unclear if the baby was born alive. And the
medical
examiner could not definitively establish the cause of death because the
baby's
body was so decomposed.
The killing of the baby girl and the way she was discarded saddened the
community.
A memorial of teddy bears, cards and a cross went up at the site where
the body
was found. People called the state Medical Examiner's Office offering to
pay
for a proper funeral.
Police said Johnson delivered the baby at her parents' house in Windham,
strangled it and stuffed the body in a trash bag. She then asked her
boyfriend
to dump it.
Friends, neighbors and even her boyfriend said they didn't know Johnson
had
been pregnant, and her baggy clothes concealed that fact. DNA tests
showed the
baby was hers.
Her boyfriend has said he was duped into dumping the bag containing the
body.
He told investigators that Johnson came home from work one day and told
him
that some food in her trunk had spoiled. The smell was awful, and trash
pickup
was a week away, so he found a spot to dump the bag.
Johnson's attorney, Ed Folsom, said his client was a "mental cripple"
when she
killed her baby. "She is wracked by despair, guilt and shame," he told
the
judge. "She was in a black void when she committed this crime. She was
in a pit
of despair."
Folsom said Johnson had been in an abusive relationship that included
what he
described as "sexual torture."
Johnson told the judge she knows she made bad choices in her life,
including
companions and drinking, that "brought about the death of this child."
"It's inconceivable how anyone would want anything to do with me," she
said,
adding that her friends are so forgiving they even invite her to
birthing
parties.
"I can't forgive myself," she said, "so therefore I cannot ask for
forgiveness
from God. I have trouble understanding why this happened to me."
Brennan, in deciding what Johnson's sentence should be, said that
psychological
tests showed she was in a "dissociative state" and didn't understand
what she
was doing.
While a long prison sentence would be excessive punishment, the judge
said, two
years behind bars is "a long enough period of time to impress on Miss
Johnson
the seriousness of the offense."
Just before she was led off to prison, Johnson hunched over the defense
table
and sobbed uncontrollably for several minutes. She then stood up slowly,
hugged
her weeping father, and was led away by sheriff's deputies.