Trial of teen accused of killing parents delayed by blood-soaked sheetsBOISE, Idaho — Bloody bedsheets in an Idaho courtroom prompted a postponement Thursday in the murder trial of a teenager accused of killing her parents.
Sarah Johnson's trial will resume Friday morning in the Ada County Courthouse with testimony from blood-spatter expert Rod Englert.
As prosecutors were preparing to show the evidence, a court officer pointed out that the blood-spattered bed sheets Diane Johnson was laying on when she was shot to death might produce airborne "biohazards" in the courtroom.
"My main duty is the safety and security of the jury," sheriff's marshall Steve McKissick said. "I suggest we find a better way to present this evidence."
Judge R. Barry Wood said biological remains were spotted falling off the sheets as they were opened and placed on a makeshift bed frame.
"In light of blood and body parts falling out of the sheets, we will adjourn for the day to clean the courtroom," the judge said.
Blaine County prosecutors say Sarah Johnson, 18, fatally shot her parents in their bedroom, and wanted to reconstruct the crime scene from the morning of Sept. 2, 2003.
Police found Diane Johnson dead in her bed from a gunshot to the head. She was still under the covers, and very little of her head remained.
Diane's husband, Alan Johnson, lay dead on the floor next to the bed from a gunshot wound to the chest. His body was wet, and a trail of blood coming from the bathroom led authorities to believe he was shot in the bathroom and stumbled into the bedroom, where he fell to the ground and bled to death.
The delay brought to a halt one of the trial's more anticipated days of testimony.
The defendant's brother was expected to testify against her.
Court opened Thursday with the cross-examination of one of the state's most colorful witnesses, a felon serving a 16-year sentence on drug charges who testified Sarah made numerous incriminating statements to her while they shared a cell in Blaine County Jail.
Malinda Gonzales, who bunked with Sarah for three weeks after she was arrested on Oct. 31, 2003, addressed defense lawyer Bob Pangburn by his last name during her profanity-laced testimony.
She also heckled him as he asked if she was being compensated for her testimony.
"This is a joke to you, isn't it?" Pangburn asked.
"Pangburn, it's not a joke to me. You're a joke to me," she said.
She told jurors she decided to testify because it was "the right thing" to do.
"My parents are very important to me, and I can't be with my parents. I don't want anything to happen to them," Gonzales said. "That's exactly why I came in today."
Defense lawyers claim Gonzales created the damning statements, including one in which the defendant allegedly admitted to committing the murders, to lessen her sentence on five drug-related charges.
Gonzales' pre-sentencing investigator, Dan Tiller, testified Gonzales offered him the information during one of her interviews without any indication she would be compensated.
"She made several comments to the effect of, 'I know I'm going to prison,'" Tiller said.
"Yet she didn't hound you to get some sort of leniency deal for information on Sarah Johnson?" Blaine County prosecutor Jim Thomas asked.
"Absolutely not," he said. "She seemed to explode with desire to tell me something, and I listened to her."
Between yawns, Gonzales previously testified that Sarah took delight in the nickname bestowed upon her by fellow inmates: "La Matadora" Spanish for 'The Killer.'
"We would joke around a lot," Gonzales said. "I was the dope dealer and she was the killer."
She also testified she had suffered consequences for "narc-ing" on Sarah.
"One girl threw a cup of hot coffee in my face, for which she got solitary," Gonzales said. "Another girl beat me up."
If convicted of killing her parents, Sarah faces life in prison in the same facility as her former "bunkie."
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