Adult Time for Adult Crime: Sarah Johnson
Posted October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm in Rule of Law 
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On November 9th, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments challenging the constitutionality of juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) sentences. In preparation for oral arguments, JLWOP: Faces & Cases will be an on-going series on The Foundry that will tell real stories about juvenile offenders who are currently serving LWOP sentences.
Defendant: Sarah Johnson (16)
Victims: Alan and Diane Johnson
Crimes: Two counts, first degree felony murder
Crime date: September 2, 2003 in Bellevue, Idaho
Summary
Using a hunting rifle, Sarah Johnson killed her parents after they grounded her for attempting to spend the night with her older boyfriend. She shot her sleeping mother in the head and her father as he stepped out of the shower.
Facts
Alan and Diana Johnson lived in the small town of Bellevue, Idaho. Alan was a co-owner of a successful landscaping company, and Diana worked for a financial firm. They had a son, a daughter, and a nice house on a spacious two-acre parcel of land.
Their daughter Sarah Johnson attended Wood River High School. She fell in love with 19-year-old Bruno Santos, a former high school classmate and illegal alien who had had brushes with the law and was rumored to be involved with illegal drugs.
One Friday, Johnson told her parents that she was going to spend the night at a friend’s house. Her mother called the friend’s house and discovered that Sarah was not there. The parents guessed that their daughter was most likely with Santos.
Alan Johnson drove over to Santos’s house and found his daughter there. He spoke with Santos’s mother and then drove his daughter home. He grounded her for the weekend.
Just after 6 a.m. on September 2, 2003, a few days after she had been grounded, Sarah Johnson entered her parents’ bedroom armed with a Winchester .264 Magnum rifle. Her father was in the shower, and her mother was still asleep. Johnson placed the end of the rifle on her mother’s head and pulled the trigger. She then walked toward the master bathroom and saw her father coming out of the shower. She shot him once through the chest at a distance of about three feet.
Alan fell to the floor and then stood and walked toward the side of the bed where his wife usually slept. He felt for her and then collapsed. Neighbors who heard the gunshots called 911. Sarah Johnson exited the house and ran down the street, screaming that someone had shot her parents.
While Sarah Johnson told police a number of different stories about what she witnessed the morning of the murders, the evidence against her was overwhelming. There had been no forced entry to the home. Crime scene officers found a pink robe in the trash, inside of which they found a leather glove and a latex glove. Tests of the robe revealed biological material from the defendant and her parents. Testing of the leather glove revealed gunshot residue, and Sarah Johnson’s DNA was found inside the latex glove. The matching leather glove was found in Sarah’s bedroom, and the rifle was found in the master bedroom. The Winchester rifle was usually stored in the family’s guest house, where Sarah had spent the weekend after being grounded.
According to prosecutors, Johnson committed the murders because she was fearful that her parents were going to turn in Santos for statutory rape and have him deported. There was additional evidence that the defendant murdered her parents to get their money so that she and Santos could go away together.
Charles D. Stimson is Senior Legal Fellow and Andrew M. Grossman is Senior Legal Policy Analyst in the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
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23 Responses to “Adult Time for Adult Crime: Sarah Johnson”
Gannonator on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
Life without parole is too easy. Give her the real adult penalty she deserves, which is the death penalty. Her parents murder deserves as much.
As long as we keep alive cold blooded murderers, no matter their age, we lessen the value of human life in our society.
Freedom of Speech, TX on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
You could print examples of these “kids” for years and not cover all of them.
The truth is – some people are crazy.
Kathy Smith, Toledo OH on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
I don’t want a person like this back in society – ever. She is where she belongs.
Mike Dodson, Midland, TX on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
I feel so sorry for the parents and for the surviving son. I cannot find it in my heart to feel the slightest amount of sympathy for Sarah — I hope her time in jail will be onerous. Someone with the sort of mindset that will allow them to kill their parents should never be allowed to be a part of society — she should serve for life without parole.
patricia, VA on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
I think she should be put out of her misery, and out of the undeserved care of tax payers. Put her to death.
Jerry from Chicago on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
No matter how heinous the crime, there are always going to be the bleeding hearts out there who will feel sorry for these juvinile killers. Oh sure, they will pay lip service empathy to the dead victims, but they will always see the juvinile killers as the remaining victim.
In their minds, there nothing to be done about the dead except to bury the remains and move on. Move on to feel sorry for the remaining “victim”, the juvinile murderer. Yes, they will agree, the juvinile murderers made a terrible “mistake”, but they were young. The mantra of the bleeding hearts is “hate the sin, love the sinner”.
No matter what, the bleeding hearts will always be with us.
philip on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
No mercy for for anyone like Sarah or her kind nor should they be allowed to be free. She and her type are cold blooded killers and deserve to pay with their lives, and not returned to society ware they could take the life of some else. These people never even gave their victems a trial. Make them pay the price
Marisa, Pennsylvania on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
Cold blooded killers should get the death penalty. Period.
Bobbie Jay on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
The conflict is parental upbringing and the indoctrination of socialization of the GOVERNMENT RUN SCHOOLS. Children lose any conscience they may have had as public/government indoctrination infiltrates their minds and actions. Parents become nothing to the child. This child lost her recognition of human value. exactly how the government of this country is treating life. If the government would’ve enforced the law, this illegal wouldn’t have entered her life. Parental upbringing (for the most part) teaches children to learn to deal with problems, instead of government’s indoctrination of killing off your problems. For any intentional killing of life at any age, should be death. Maybe child killers with rifles will think twice…
E Fresquez on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
I don’t normally say this, but as a young man of eighteen I was sentence to prison for crimes against other people. While there friends that I grew up with, three different groups of kids committed murder. They were sentenced to life, two were fourteen and three were sixteen. This was back in the fifties and it was an act of violence and know one questioned should we sentence them to prison. We know the penalty for our crimes and I mean all of us. There wasn’t anyone trying to find out should we give adult sentence to minors who commit adult crimes. Like in all situations, you play you pay. I have been free of crime and illegal behaviors for the past thirty nine years. Did I learn, I am free.
Ross writes from Bradenton, Florida on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
Another “sick puppy” probably de-sensitized by watching (guessing all of her life) too much unhealthy tv and horror/crime movies.
This case is as premeditated murder as one can get. Death penalty, why not. By the time she goes through the appeal process, she should be in her mid-30’s. What ever the verdict then, she does not and should not be released back to society.
Guy, South Carolina on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
This kind of illicit social situation cannot be resolved (in the future) by electing liberals to our Congresses. If we Americans don’t get our heads from our butts and start electing conservatives, who will at least attempt to bring some sanity into our public schools, then we can count on creating many more of these mindless child-killers. A couple of generations have been lost because liberal politicians have led our children (via public education) through the doors and into a hell of immature thought processing. Unfortunately, it appears this young lady deserves the ultimate penalty. It is disgusting.
Carol, AZ on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
What a horric story .
Idaho may want to consider enforcing it’s illegal immigration laws as well.
Brushes with the law? I wonder ?
Heather, Maryland on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
I don’t support the death penalty in its current form, but only because of the financial drain on the system, not because it isn’t appropriate. The punishment for any offence should fit the crime regardless of the offenders age. In this case a life (in prison) for a life.
Mike Winsauer, Kingston, TN on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
A cold blooded killer wrapped up to look like a teenage daughter. This is an evil person…..PERIOD! She chose to kill her parents, the people who bore and raised her sorry self. Whether or not the illegal alien influenced her to do it, she made the choice. She should die for her crimes!
Some goofy liberal leaning bleeding heart may want to make an excuse for her and marginalize her dead parents. Wonder if that same person would volunteer to let her live in their house and play nanny to their kids……..probably not…..but they would fight to let her live with someone else.
Donna Shepherd, Ohio on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
These so-called “children” are considered old enough to commit murder for inconvenient pregnancies with no thought of it being immoral or wrong so I guess they carry that way of thinking to anyone or anything that gets in the way of what they want. The public school system and government sponsered programs foster these ideas in them. Therefore when a parent has the audacity to get in the way, simply eliminate them. Thanks a lot social enginering teachers and a liberal govt. that teaches young people there should be no reason they can’t do what it takes to get their way. You can be sure a lawyer will try to make Sarah the victim of evil parents for trying to teach them differently. I firmly believe in an eye for an eye when it comes to these situations; if she could plan and carry out two coldblooded murders, the public should find she is more tha capable of paying the price, regardless of her age.
Marty, MD on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
If you think that these kids don’t know the laws you are kidding yourself – they are system beaters – a whole generation of them in our pubic education system in urban settings – no morals, values or ethics becasue their parents are looking ahead for their next free perk themselves. Hey – why not have a parent stay home and raise a child – give up that lifestyle that you cannot afford anyway. That will solve the unemployment problem too!
Charles Hatcher, El Paso, Tx. on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
At what age do we learn the difference between right and wrong? For most of us, our basic morals have been established and only need fine tuning by the time we are 6 or 7 years old. A crime of this magnitude, she obviously was aware of the ramifications of what she was doing when she committed it. By constructing her web of lies she basically confessed to being knowledgeable that her actions were against the law of man and god. This child deserves at the very least life in prison without the possibility of parole and debateably she deserves the death penalty.
robbie, tulsa ok. on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
so many of u get it. i am so proud. when u take god out of school and replace him with social concepts of for the good of all instead of morality. individual rights are abolished. her parents rights of life, in her mind, were none and she had the right to do whatever made her feel good. these are the lessons that are taught in the progressive enviorment. they may say its not what they intended but when u take morals and god and family out of the equation, what else do u get?
Sara, VA on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
Thank you for publishing these stories. Hopefully, they will help illuminate. Evil people often have really good parents. It is too easy and wrong to blame the parents of sociopaths.
Frank Hartry, South Africa. on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
As the judge said, her parents were trying to protect her. Although only 16 at the time she knew full well that what she was doing was wrong. The fact that she is denying that she committed the crime, is proof that she knew what she was doing. The death penalty should have been sought and applied for this evil crime.
sarah johnson AZ on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
i guess love makes u do crazy things…
Brenda on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58pm said:
Where was the boyfriend,,,? where was the investigation? I smell a rat!! What kind of police do they have up there?
Why are the family not trying to find out the real killer?
She needed a better attorney.