By CASEY KNAUPP
Tyler Morning Telegraph Staff Writer

Timothy Johnson was convicted Thursday of capital murder for being the getaway driver in the "Madison Street Murders," and became the first person in Smith County to receive the automatic sentence of life with- out parole - a law that took effect only 25 days before the crime.

On Sept. 1, 2006, a new law took effect, taking away the possibility of parole when a defendant was sentenced to life for capital murder. Before, they were eligible for parole in 40 years.

A Smith County jury in 114th District Judge Cynthia Stevens Kent's court came back with its guilty verdict after about three hours of deliberation. The jurors also considered the lesser-included offenses of murder and aggravated assault.

Johnson, wearing a gray jacket and tie, appeared to show no emotion as the verdict was read.

At about 4 a.m. on Sept. 26, 2006, Tyler police discovered Gary Mosley, 49, dead in a chair on the front porch of the residence at 2410 Madison St., and Unnice "Pinky" Rogers, 41, dead in a back bedroom of the residence. Found wounded were George Cain, 39, on the front porch, and Presley Williams, 50, in the living room.

Korrenthin Baker, the alleged gunman, awaits trial for capital murder.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys called witnesses in Johnson's case for eight days before closing arguments Thursday.

Assistant Smith County District Attorney Joe Murphy said Baker was as evil as they come and that while he was executing and shooting the people inside the house on Madison Street, Johnson was in his car waiting. He told the jurors that, because of the law of parties, Johnson was guilty of capital murder even though he didn't pull the trigger, because he aided Baker in the offense.

During a videotaped confession conducted on Sept. 29, 2006, Murphy said, Johnson described how, as he waited in the car, he saw Baker walk to the house and kill Mosley as he sat on the front porch. When he saw Baker enter the house, he told detectives, "I knew he was going in there to get (Donald) Duck (Donaldson), the one he claimed kept messing him over," Murphy said, reading from the transcript of the interview. Johnson also told detectives that even though Baker was trying to hit Donaldson, he probably hit his "woman," Ms. Rogers.

After changing his story about what happened several times, he ultimately admitted to driving Baker in his car to and from the crime.

Murphy said Baker had been at the residence before and got into an altercation with Donaldson and he was kicked out of the house. He walked to Johnson's house and the two decided they weren't going to take it anymore; they were going to show the people on Madison Street that they couldn't be kicked around, he said.

"If you look at the evidence, there is no way he's not guilty of capital murder," Murphy said.

He said that, while Baker did the "up close and personal execution" of Mosley and Ms. Rogers, Johnson waited in his car. When Baker walked out of the house he saw Cain on the porch and realized he hadn't finished it yet so he shot him. Then Baker dug through his pockets and stole his cash, which were soaked with blood, he said. Johnson then drove Baker away from the scene, Murphy added.

Immediately after the murder, Murphy said Johnson and Baker went out and bought crack cocaine. Later that morning, after he had dropped Baker off at his apartment, Johnson went and bought crack from Christopher Frater, who testified that Johnson paid with blood-soaked cash.

Murphy talked about conflicting accounts of what witnesses saw of the shooting that night and said everybody sees and reacts to stressful situations differently.

Defense attorney Melvin Thompson told the jurors he wasn't going to argue his client should be acquitted because the state didn't prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

"The plain truth is this is an innocent man," he said. "He just didn't do it. They just got it wrong."

He said appearances create circumstances, which lead to conclusions and conclusions are found to be true or false based on the facts. Thompson went through each witness' testimony during the nearly two-week trial, citing conflicting statements.

He said Baker was the only one who named Johnson in the case, when he lied about being with him all night.

Thompson said detectives believed Johnson was telling the truth during the interview only when he said statements that fit what they thought happened in the case. Thompson claimed the detectives fed Johnson information about the case that no one would know unless they were at the crime scene. He said the detectives fed the jurors misinformation because that's the way it looked, but the witnesses brought the facts in the case.

Baker had a grudge against everyone who lived in the house, but it didn't have anything to do with Johnson, because he wasn't there, Thompson said. He said Frater lied about Johnson giving him bloodstained money because he's facing serious prison time.

He said Baker stole his brother's gun, used it to kill two people and wound two others, then put the gun back in his brother's drawer. He said Baker's mother's car fit the description of the one seen at the murder scene and Baker could have used her car and returned it, just like his brother's gun. He said detectives took a murderer's word Johnson was with him.

Thompson said the theme of the investigation and case was that if authorities - detectives and prosecutors - didn't get the truth of what fit with what they believed to be the truth, they kept trying.

He said the detectives were "not trying to frame Mr. Johnson; they just got it wrong."

"This is an innocent man."

Defense attorney LaJuanda Lacy represented Johnson with Thompson.

Assistant District Attorney Jason Parrish said it was undisputed that Baker killed the people, but Johnson was also guilty because he either aided him in the offense or he should have anticipated the murders would occur.

He said there was no getaway driver case stronger than Johnson's because he was seen with Baker before and after the murders, and used bloody cash to buy crack.

 

"That's what their lives were to him - some cocaine," Parrish said.