Man convicted in Arkansas graduation shooting gets 105 years in prison
HEAT SOURCES, Ark. — A jury has convicted a man accused of firing a gun into a crowd after an Arkansas high school graduation ceremony, killing one person and wounding four others.
At the end of the five-day trial in Garland County Circuit Court, the panel of six men and six women deliberated for less than an hour Friday before 26-year-old Charles Johnson Jr. was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Michael Jordan, 39, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
It took just over an hour for the jury to hand down a 40-year prison sentence, with an increase of five years for the use of a firearm, the newspaper said. They also found him guilty of four counts of first-degree battery and sentenced him to 20 years for battery on Markezeon Carlton Green, with an enhancement of 10 years for committing the crime in the presence of a child; 15 years for injuries to Candice Hughes; and five years each for the injuries to Monique West and Adamma Watson.
Judge Ralph Ohm said the jury recommended sentences for a total of 105 years to run consecutively.
Johnson chose not to testify and his court-appointed attorney, Mark Fraiser, presented no other witnesses or testimony.
The shooting occurred on May 12, 2022, outside the Hot Springs Convention Center, where a graduation ceremony had been held for Hot Springs World Class High School. Hot Springs officers wounded Johnson, who fled and was later arrested at a hospital on a murder warrant.
In his closing arguments, Deputy Prosecutor Brock Price outlined evidence against Johnson, including matching the clothing and shoes the shooter was wearing, as seen in multiple cellphone videos and police body camera footage, to Johnson, and matching his DNA to the trail of blood leaving the scene. he fled after being shot by police.
Price said Johnson walked up to a group that included Jordan and Green and âfired into the crowdâ even though police were only a few feet away. As he ran, he continued to fire into the crowd.
Hot Springs is a popular tourist destination located about 47 miles southwest of Little Rock.