Cassandra
Williamson
Let us not ever forget the children that were wrongfully
slain.
A jury convicted Johnny Johnson today of first degree
murder in the death of 6 year-old Cassandra "Cassey"
Williams at an abandoned glass factory in Valley Park.
The jury of 10 men and two women in St. Louis County
Circuit Court deliberated about three hours. Jurors also
convicted Johnson of armed criminal action, kidnapping
and attempted rape.
The second phase or punishment phase of the trial began,
with the state seeking the death penalty and the defense
urging life in prison without parole. A jury is deliberating
this afternoon whether to convict Johnny Johnson of first-
degree murder and then consider the death penalty, or to
convict him of the lesser charge of second-degree murder
in the death of 6-year-old Cassandra “Casey’’ Williamson.
The jury of 10 men and two women in St. Louis County
Circuit Court is also considering the companion charges of
armed criminal action, kidnapping and attempted rape.
Johnson, 26, took the child on Sept. 26, 2002, more than a
mile from a house on Benton Street where they both were
staying to an abandoned glass factory where he beat her to
death with bricks and a rock after she resisted his sexual
assault.
Those facts are uncontested. Eyewitnesses saw Johnson
carrying Casey piggyback in Valley Park, near the start of
an overgrown trail to the glass works. After several hours
of denying any involvement in Casey’s disappearance,
Johnson told County Police Det. Paul Neske where to find
Casey’s body.
Later, the defendant made oral and audiotaped confessions
to Neske and to Detectives David Knieb, John Newsham
and Craig Longworth. In closing arguments today,
Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch suggested that
Johnson had planned to rape Casey from the moment he
got her out of the house and to kill her so she would not
identify him.
The prosecutor noted that Johnson took the little girl
initially in the wrong direction from the glass factory but
on a route that got him out of sight and around the corner
50 feet from the front door of the house where Casey’s
father had begun to look for her. Afterwards, McCulloch
said, Johnson had the presence of mind to wash Casey’s
blood off his legs in the Meramec River.
McCulloch must prove that Johnson acted with
deliberation. Defense attorney Bevy Beimdiek said Johnson
can’t and couldn’t do it -– act with cool reflection –-
because of his mental illness. Throughout his life, Johnson
has been diagnosed with a variety of mental illnesses, from
depression, to schizoaffective disorder to schizophrenia.
Mental health experts testified that Johnson hears voices.
“It boils down to this. Was the act an intentional act?’’
Beimbiek said. “None of us can explain what schizophrenia
is. He can’t turn off those voices like you turn off a radio
or turn off a television.’’ In rebuttal, McCulloch said all of
Johnson’s actions that morning were consistent with a
killer who then tried to cover up his crimes.
“How come he doesn’t climb a tree to wash her blood off
himself?,’’ McCulloch asked sarcastically. “He went down
to the river…. For once in his entire life, hold him
responsible for what he did.’’
