Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 10, 1995 TAG: 9502100093
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Michael B. Johnson had faced up to three life terms plus 23 years in prison, but received the lesser sentence under a plea agreement reached this week in Roanoke Circuit Court.
Johnson, 31, pleaded guilty to hitting a clerk with either a wine bottle or a nightstick - exactly which weapon was used never was determined - during a May 3 robbery of Mac's One Stop Shop in the 600 block of Marshall Avenue Southwest.
He entered so-called "Alford pleas" to two charges of robbery and one charge of using a firearm, meaning he maintained his innocence but, given the evidence against him, decided it was in his best interest not to contest the charges, defense attorney Tom Blaylock said.
Authorities had said that Johnson entered the store and assaulted both the clerk and the owner, forcing them to the floor before taking money from them and the cash register.
A charge of attempted capital murder had alleged that before he left the store, Johnson grabbed a revolver that was sitting on a counter and tried to shoot the store's owner, 70-year-old Lewis Sink.
The gun misfired, and that charge was dropped as part of the plea agreement, Blaylock said. As Johnson fled, Sink fired a shot that grazed his shoulder. Johnson was found bleeding in a Day Avenue home a short time later.
Under a sentence imposed by Judge Clifford Weckstein, Johnson received a term of 48 years, to be suspended after he serves 25 years.
by CNB