Thomas Johnson, a former wide receiver for Texas A&M, was found guilty Tuesday of murder, per reports. Prosecutors said he confessed to the seemingly random October 2015 killing of a Dallas jogger, in which a machete was used.
Family members of Johnson, 25, have said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia a year before the attack, and in 2016 he was found to be mentally incompetent to stand trial. In June, though, after being evaluated at a Texas psychiatric institution, he was deemed fit for a trial.
Jurors returned a guilty verdict a day after Johnson’s trial began in a Dallas County courtroom. He initially pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but he said in court (via WFAA) that while he was sick at the time of the killing, he was not insane.
Johnson answered questions from his attorney but he did not take the stand, and his defense did not call any witnesses after prosecutors rested their case. Johnson could face up to life in prison.
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The victim in the case was a 53-year-old engineer for General Electric, David Stevens, who was jogging along a trail when he was attacked.
A bicyclist told the court he witnessed Stevens being hacked with a machete “as if trying to cut like chop wood.”
Machete Murder Trial Day 2: Forensic biologist on stand. Called by the state. Tested machete, hoodie & jeans. DNA hand swabs of defendant Thomas Johnson (below) & hoodie that police say he wore during the murder revealed DNA that matched victim David Stevens @FOX4 pic.twitter.com/nUl5PC6iQX
— Natalie Solis (@Fox4Natalie) April 30, 2019After the killing, witnesses said they saw Johnson running down the trail and pleading to use a phone, and a Dallas Parks and Recreation employee said he handed a him a cellphone to call police. A 911 recording played for the court was said to have had Johnson’s voice on it, saying, “He’s dead. There was a sword in his head. Do you understand?”
The employee testified that he thought Johnson was being helpful at first, but he grew suspicious when he saw blood spattered on Johnson’s clothing as the latter led park staffers to the body. Prosecutors said shoe prints at the scene and DNA evidence pointed to Johnson’s involvement in the attack.
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A Dallas-area native, Johnson was a coveted high school recruit who contributed to the Aggies as a freshman in 2012. He caught three passes for 22 yards in Texas A&M’s upset, led by quarterback Johnny Manziel, of No. 1 Alabama.
However, he briefly disappeared from campus late in the season and never again played football. “Everyone was proud of him, but you could tell after he lost everything that his whole life changed. He just went down,” a one-time neighbor told CBS DFW in 2015.
In the wake of the killing of Stevens, his wife, Patti Stevens, committed suicide. The couple was reported to have been married for 25 years, with no children.
“They were meant for each other. That’s why Patti isn’t here today,” the victim’s brother, Mark Stevens, told the court Tuesday. “She told me, ‘How can I be here knowing what he did to my Dave?’ She just couldn’t continue on.”
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