When push comes to shove, based on evidence at the scene, one simply may not be able to prove conclusively who shot and killed Alan and Diane Johnson on Sept. 2, 2003, in their Bellevue home.
"One can think of lots of scenarios that would explain the evidence, and the evidence simply does not allow us to choose," forensic analyst Keith Inman testified Friday, March 4. "This is just one of those situations where you have to say we'll never know everything about this case."
Now in its sixth week, the double murder trial of Sarah M. Johnson, 18, of Bellevue, opened Feb. 1 with jury selection in 4th District Court at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise. The trial was moved to Boise early in January when 5th District Judge Barry Wood ruled it was impractical to attempt to panel a non-biased jury in Blaine County where the crimes were committed. Johnson is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of her parents, Alan Johnson, 46, and Diane Johnson, 52. If convicted, she faces life in prison.
However, Inman and other defense experts said the evidence at the murder scene prompts three possible scenarios: a murder-suicide in which Alan Johnson shot his wife and then himself, a murder in which Sarah Johnson killed her parents, or a murder in which an unknown person killed the Johnsons.
"Of course," one cannot tell who pulled the trigger based on the available evidence, Inman said, although he quickly qualified that the murder-suicide scenario was easily ruled out.
The defense continued Tuesday to make its case and called a firearms expert, who testified the blast that killed Diane Johnson could not have been fired through a bed sheet because a hole found in the sheet did not produce a star-shaped tear.
The testimony could be important because defense attorneys have postulated that because Sarah Johnson did not have any blood on her following her parents' murders she could not have been their killer.
Prosecutors postulate that Diane Johnson's head was covered by a sheet and quilt that prevented blood from spattering in the direction of the shooter. Defense attorneys, however, theorize that the bed sheet and quilt do not show the effects of a close-range shot from a rifle.
A significant portion of defense arguments in the trial against Sarah Johnson have focused on the absence of blood on the alleged killer and on the nature of holes found in a sheet from the bed where Diane Johnson was killed.
But there's more to defense arguments than that.
In the last week, forensic analysts called by the defense pointed out that the crime scene at the Johnson home on Glen Aspen Drive in Bellevue contained fingerprints and DNA that cannot be explained. The prints found in three locations and DNA found in four locations do not match samples obtained from any of the members of the Johnson family or the four suspects, including Sarah Johnson, who police investigated.
DNA from an unknown man was recovered from the collar of a pink bathrobe worn by the killer, as well as from the barrel of the .264 Magnum hunting rifle used in the killings.
The "foreign male DNA has to be significant," Inman said. "That's a very significant finding, and it certainly shifts the weight of the hypothesis we're testing toward someone else being the shooter."
Unknown DNA samples were also found on the inside of both gloves presumed to have been used in the murders, but the profiles obtained from the gloves were not complete. A complete profile for Sarah Johnson was also obtained from both gloves.
Additionally, unknown fingerprints were discovered on the rifle scope that was left in the Johnson guest house, on the insert of a box of .264 Magnum shells and on an expended shell believed to have been one of the shots that killed one of the Johnsons. The prints on the scope and box insert were the same, and none of the prints matched those from any of the Johnson family or key suspects.
"Well that's pretty important," Inman said. "Again, it shifts the weight toward another shooter.
"When you look at all of that evidence, the totality of it supports the scenario that Sarah Johnson was not the shooter, that someone else was the shooter."
In the two days following Inman's testimony, the defense called a diverse cross-section of witnesses who testified about a diversity of issues in a difficult-to-understand order.
Two Bellevue residents testified they heard a strange car in the vicinity of Glen Aspen Drive early on Sept. 2, 2003.
It was a memorable occurrence because "it's a dead-end street. We normally don't hear cars go by fast," said Ashley Kelbert, who lived across an irrigation canal from the Johnson home.
Another woman who lives across Highway 75 from the Glen Aspen Drive neighborhood testified that she awoke Sept. 2 to a car doing laps in front of her home.
"The first time I noticed it, it was there for quite some time," said Bellevue resident Amber Annen.
Annen said the car would sit in front of her home, turn onto the highway, then turn into the Glen Aspen Drive neighborhood before returning some time later to the front of her home.
It did the loop multiple times between 5:15 a.m. and 6:30 a.m., Annen said.
Sarah M. Johnson
