THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 26, 1995 TAG: 9504260459
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Antwan Champion was 18 and Carlos Driver 16 when they decided to ``do something wild,'' a prosecutor said.
So they demanded money and jewelry from barbershop owner Robert B. Johnson after Johnson drove one of his barbers to a friend's apartment.
Driver didn't know that Champion had murder in mind.
Champion snatched a gun from Driver's hand and shot Johnson, 26, the father of a 5-and-a-half-week-old daughter, once in the face and once in head.
This week, a jury recommended that Champion be sentenced to life for killing Johnson, and a judge carried out a jury's recommendation that Driver be sentenced to life in prison.
The jury also recommended on Tuesday that Champion, now 20, receive 18 years on attempted robbery and firearms charges.
Champion could have received the death penalty.
Champion and Driver decided to rob Johnson outside the Churchland North Apartments on Aug. 20, 1993, for a ``cheap thrill,'' said Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Will H. Jamerson, who prosecuted the case.
Johnson was giving one of his barbers a ride home from the Portsmouth barbershop when the two stopped at a friend's apartment.
While Johnson and the other barber were outside the apartments, Champion and Driver approached Johnson and demanded jewelry and money.
Driver testified during his January 1994 trial that he had not intended to kill Johnson, but simply frighten him.
Driver fired the handgun several times into the ground near Johnson's feet, but Champion snatched the gun and fatally shot Johnson.
Champion was charged with capital murder, attempted robbery and firearms charges. Driver, who was sentenced to life in prison plus 13 years Monday, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted robbery and firearms charges.
``It was a random act,'' Jamerson said after the sentencing. ``Robert Johnson is killed because he's a person at the wrong place at the wrong time.
``It just shows a callous disregard for life.''
Johnson's widow, Keisha, 27, said her life since her husband's death has been a constant struggle and their only child, Whitney Nicole, will never see her father again.
``I felt disappointed because I feel like they took his life and they didn't give him a chance to enjoy his family and his new daughter,'' said Keisha, Johnson's high school sweetheart. The couple married in 1991 and had a home in the Bowers Hill section of Chesapeake.
``I feel like my life has been ripped apart,'' she said through tears. ``I lost the first six months of my daughter's bonding time. . . Christmas, her first birthday trying to get myself straight. I lost everything.''
KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING SENTENCE by CNB