Rape trial of SC man accused of assault of great grandmother ends in mistrial

(Original Post 6-4-08)

The rape trial of a man accused of raping a now 84 year old woman started Monday, June 2 with the detective reading Brandon Vernard Johnson’s confession in the June 9, 2006 rape. He is charged with holding the great-grandmother captive while raping her for nearly 9 hours. The captivity happened after he escorted her back from a grocery store.

On the night of the incident, she reportedly cried for help and called her assailant a "sick son of a bitch," according to a Charleston County Sheriff's Office official who responded to her Harbor View Road home and testified this week.

Another sheriff's official quoted Johnson, now 24, as saying the sex was consensual but that he ran out of the house because the appearance of a young black man having sex with an older white woman didn't look good.

The woman was in the courtroom for the start of the trial. Charleston County sheriff deputy Detective Matthew Lariccia testified on Monday that Johnson asked to speak to authorities, and that he admitted “I need help” and “I wish there was something I could do to undo what I did.”

9th Circuit Assistant Solicitor Elizabeth Gordon said the woman’s nosy neighbors led to Johnson being caught and that the woman, who lived on the same street for 3 decades, had her independence robbed and “after that night, she has never been able to return to that house.”

Defense lawyer Beatie Butler said that things are not always what they seemed, and that Johnson wasn’t fully aware of what happened.

Johnson was free on bail on drug trafficking and gun charges in Summerville, SC when the attack occurred.

(Update 6-6-08)

The deliberations started yesterday, with jurors spending 2 hours deliberating Johnson's verdict.
After hearing case testimony for most of the week, Circuit Judge Steven John sent the members of the jury home Thursday night following two hours of deliberations at the Charleston County Judicial Center.

In her closing argument, 9th Circuit Assistant Solicitor Elizabeth Gordon said the woman's battered condition, bruised body and ripped clothing was enough to prove that a rape occurred.
"Do you think someone would consent to that kind of pain?" Gordon asked the jurors, adding that "someone who consented doesn't stand in the living room, naked, yelling for help."

Prior to the attack, the woman was known to walk the neighborhood and visit nearby stores. She reportedly suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome in the wake of the incident.

Defense lawyer Beattie Butler made several points in his closing argument, including that the woman's dementia manifested while Johnson was in the home and led to an event.

The attack is alleged to have begun about 8 p.m. on June 9, 2006, and lasted until early in the morning on June 10, 2006. According to case testimony and evidence, Johnson was arrested outside the home just after he fled.

Johnson faces 30 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

(Update 6-7-08) The jury, after 10 hours of deliberations over 2 days, has declared a mistrial. Statements from the victim, who is suffering from Alzheimers were not admitted, a fact that prosecutors say hampered their case.

Ninth Circuit Assistant Solicitor Elizabeth Gordon said she intends to try Johnson again, but will consult with the victim's family. Johnson was taken back to the Charleston County Detention Center where he has been held since the incident.

Johnson's family declined comment, but the elderly woman's family said they were stunned by the outcome. "This assault never seems to end," a spokesperson said.

Jurors declined to speak in detail afterward. "It's been a long week and I don't want to talk about it," one said.

"Close, very close," another said of the deliberations. "That's all I'm going to say."
The jury had three options to consider:

--First-degree criminal sexual conduct, which covers nonconsensual sex with aggravating factors such as robbery, confinement or burglary.

--Third-degree criminal sexual conduct, which can cover improper sex with someone who is mentally unable to consent.

--Assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.

Hours into the deliberation Friday, and with no decision on the horizon, the jury sent a note to Circuit Judge Steven H. John asking if it were possible to consider the much less severe charge of simple battery. The judge declined, and the mistrial was declared later in the day.

Defense lawyer Beatie Butler said the case was difficult for both sides, and that Johnson, impaired because of drinking, and the woman, impaired because of Alzheimer's, may not have known what was going on.

"A significant number of jurors thought Brandon was not guilty," Butler said, adding that others thought him guilty only of a simple assault.

The woman's family said late Friday that they dread having to sit through another trial. But they also said they know Johnson's family, likewise, is in pain.

"We feel for them," a spokesperson said. "Not him, but his family."