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Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Saturday, September 06, 2008

Accused killer pleads insanity to 10 felonies

MARINETTE, Wis. (AP) — A Michigan man accused in a shooting rampage that killed three teenage swimmers at a river on the Wisconsin-Michigan border pleaded insanity to 10 felonies Friday, including new counts that he tried to kill six other teens.

Scott J. Johnson, 38, of Kingsford, Mich., had been charged with three counts of first-degree intentional homicide. The criminal complaint was amended Thursday to also charge him with six counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and one count of second-degree sexual assault.

With the insanity pleas, Johnson would have to prove to a jury through medical experts that he didn’t know right from wrong in the crimes because he suffered a mental disease or defect and cannot be held responsible for his behavior.

If found insane, he would be sent to a mental hospital until doctors determined he was safe to be released back into society. If found sane and guilty of the charges, he would be sent to prison for life.

“In this serious of a case, you can’t leave any stone unturned,” Leonard Kachinsky, Johnson’s attorney, said about the rare insanity pleas. “We want to get a psychiatric exam to see if there was a basis for that defense.”

Prosecutors say Johnson went to the Menominee River on July 31 and opened fire on a group of swimmers, killing Tiffany Pohlson, 17, Anthony Spigarelli, 18, and Bryan Mort, 19, all from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Investigators say Johnson fired about 17 shots from a rifle and is now accused of trying to kill Katrina Coates, Derek Barnes, Daniel Gordon, Kevin Johnson, Jonathan McClure and Christopher Martinson, who were also at the river, according to an amended criminal complaint filed in Marinette County Circuit Court.

Investigators have previously said only one other person was hurt in the shooting — Gordon, 20, of Kingsford, Mich., who suffered a superficial shrapnel wound in his back.

The sexual assault charge involves a woman in an incident July 30. It alleges Johnson had “sexual contact” with her by “use or threat of force or violence,” the complaint said.

Kachinsky said his client has no documented history of mental illness, has never sought counseling for emotional problems and probably has only had some mental screening when he was in the Army years ago. But he has a behavior pattern of isolation back in the family home after his divorce that suggests he might have undiagnosed depression.

Johnson has not had a work career for years, the attorney said.

“It is not uncommon for persons to suffer from mental illness and then never get professional help because of the stigma,” Kachinsky said. “I guess we will find out from an expert if that is the case here or not.”

District Attorney Brent DeBord did not immediately return a telephone message.

Judge Tim Duket ordered attorneys in the case to make recommendations to him on mental health doctors who they want to examine Johnson. The judge set a hearing on that matter Sept. 10.

A four-week trial is scheduled to begin March 16. With Johnson’s insanity pleas, there would be two phases. The first would determine whether he was guilty of the crimes. If found guilty, the trial would then move to a second phase, the insanity evidence.

The original criminal complaint characterizes Johnson as a disaffected man who had thought about committing a random shooting for four or five years. Johnson told investigators he stashed weapons in the woods at least a year ago in preparation.

Johnson’s mother, Judy Johnson, has said her son was honorably discharged from the Army in 1994 without serving overseas. She described him as despondent since his wife left him in 2001 and took their two children with her.

The spark that set off the shooting rampage was a sexual assault that Johnson allegedly confessed to police. Johnson lured the 24-year-old woman near the East Kingsford Train Bridge and attacked her, later trying to talk her out of calling police, the complaint said.

The attack was part of his plot to kill as many police officers as he could, Johnson told investigators.

Kachinsky said he had expected some attempted homicide charges to be filed.

“My understanding is these are individuals who were near other individuals who were shot and killed,” he said. “I would assume the state’s theory is that he may have intended to kill them and missed.”

Kachinsky said Johnson is adapting in jail.

“He is a little more calm and focused on what is going to lie ahead. He is going to be in jail quite a while. He is getting used to it,” he said. “At a minimum, it will be until March.”

The mandatory punishment for first-degree intentional homicide is life in prison. The maximum punishment for attempted intentional homicide is 60 years in prison and the maximum punishment for second-degree sexual assault charge is 40 years in prison.