Jury deliberates in attempted murder case

February 10, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Jurors in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court deliberated about two hours Thursday before finding a man guilty of attempted aggravated murder and felonious assault for beating his girlfriend last March.

Michael Johnson, 38, of Tod Lane, will be sentenced after a presentence investigation. Jurors began deliberating after lunch, after closing arguments and instructions in the law from Judge Lou D’Apolito.

Speaking during closing arguments, Assistant Prosecutor Rob Andrews said Johnson beat the 31-year-old woman so bad it’s a “miracle” she did not die.

“It’s a miracle we’re not trying a murder case instead of an attempted murder case,” Andrews said.

The victim was found beaten March 30 in her home on Worthington Avenue on the North Side. Andrews said Johnson was a suspect right away. A DNA sample taken from him later revealed that some of the blood found on the victim was also Johnson’s blood.

Andrews said the beating came after an argument a few days before between Johnson and a family member of the victim. Johnson was the last person to see the victim before she was beaten sometime between March 27 and March 30, when she was found.

Defense attorney Michael Kivlighan said the victim has no memory of the attack and jurors should not trust her faulty memory to convict his client. Kivlighan also said police did not do a good job of checking the crime scene for other evidence to be tested.

Kivlighan also said there were drugs found in the home and drugs in the victim’s system, yet police did not take the drugs to be tested for evidence.

“They did not inventory anything for any possible physical evidence,” Kivlighan said.

Jurors were selected Tuesday and began hearing the case Wednesday.

Andrews said the injuries the victim sustained were so bad that when her father went to the emergency room to see her he walked right by her without recognizing her. One of the police officers who testified also called the victim’s injuries some of the worst he has ever seen.