PAWNEE COUNTY—A Kansas man was sentenced Sept. 8 for a violent attack on his mother.
Cory S. Johnson, 38 of Larned, had originally been bound over following a Preliminary Hearing on June 21, on two counts of Aggravated Domestic Battery with alternative charges of Criminal Restraint, according to Pawnee County Attorney Doug McNett.
Immediately prior to the Jury Trial, however, the parties agreed to amend the Information/Complaint to be one count of misdemeanor Domestic Battery and one count of Criminal Restraint, according to McNett.
The jury heard testimony that on the afternoon of May 25, 2021, the Johnson's mother contacted the Larned Police Department requesting assistance with her son.
She indicated that he was off his medications and his mental health had been deteriorating for nearly a year. The mother testified that on the previous day he had held her down in their backyard and rubbed creek water on her trying to “get the devil out of her.”
She further indicated that sometime after 1:00 a.m. her son again held her down for nearly an hour in the kitchen of the home they shared and made statements about the devil. She advised law enforcement she was afraid of her son, and she wanted him to get him help.
Law enforcement testified they found Johnson later that afternoon in the middle of the Pawnee Creek drinking creek water and filling up containers with creek water. He was arrested without incident.
The jury made up of 2 women and 4 men deliberated for over an hour before returning a Guilty verdict on the Criminal Restraint charge. The Jury Foreman advised the Court, however, they were hopeless deadlocked as to the Domestic Battery charge and no amount of additional deliberation would change the deadlock. Accordingly, the Court declared a mistrial as to the Domestic Battery charge.
Following discharge of the jury, the State advised that it would not seek retrial on the Domestic Battery charge. The parties then requested the Court proceed to immediate sentencing. Pawnee County Judge Bruce Gatterman sentenced Johnson to the maximum sentence allowed by law of 12 months in the County Jail with credit for time served. He had been in custody since his arrest on May 25, 2021. All costs and fees were waived due to indigency.
Pawnee County Attorney Douglas McNett presented the State’s case at trial. Johnson was represented by Eric Harman of Dodge City/