Local attorney found not guilty

Published 7:00 pm Saturday, March 10, 2018

No drugs found to support victim’s claims

<p class="p1">A local attorney who was indicted in 2013 on a charge of forcible rape was found not guilty Friday in a packed courtroom in state district court after a five-day bench trial heard by a New Orleans judge.</p><p class="p1">Jonathan Lane Johnson, 37, was arrested in 2011 after Louisiana State Police investigators looked into a complaint by a 21-year-old woman who said she got a drink from Johnson at a local bar and “after a couple of sips” of it began feeling sick and weak. </p><p class="p1">Investigators said Johnson took the accuser to his home and had sexual relations with her. </p><p class="p1">“The female was unable to consent to the sexual act due to her extreme impairment,”  authorities said. </p><p class="p1">Johnson, who did not testify during the trial, told a grand jury that he had a sexual encounter with the accuser after attending a wedding reception with her and others but that it was consensual. </p><p class="p1">Judge Dennis Waldron heard the case after the Calcasieu Parish District Attorney’s Office recused itself because of Johnson’s former employment as a law clerk.</p><p class="p1">Matt Derbes and Emma Devillier from the Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the case. Jim Boren was Johnson’s defense attorney. </p><p class="p1">On Friday, Kim Fromme, a psychologist who testified for the defense, talked about how alcohol affects memory. </p><p class="p1">“Reaction times and things like that can be affected by alcohol,” Fromme said. </p><p class="p1">“Alcohol can impair all aspects of memory,” she said. “Memory is fallible. If you’re in a blackout, you may have gaps and later try to create a personal narrative that makes sense.” </p><p class="p1">Fromme said “if we are to believe her (accuser’s) self-reported alcohol consumption, she would have been capable of making decisions and would have been aware of her surroundings.” </p><p class="p1">Devillier, in her closing argument, said, “The victim has come before the court and God and this packed courtroom and has not wavered on what happened. She has endured over six years of torment, with her life being examined, talking about the most intimate details of her sex life. She grew up next to (Johnson’s) family. Can you imagine how hard this has been for her? And yet she has not wavered.” </p><p class="p1">Boren told the court that although Johnson was indicted for forcible rape, additional allegations were that he drugged the accuser, “There is no evidence that the victim was drugged. The victim said that he even drugged his own wife that night so he could rape the victim.”</p><p class="p1">“A search warrant of Johnson’s house found no drugs and nothing to support the victim’s claims,” he said. “</p><p class="p1">Boren said the accuser “made up a story because, ‘Is it better to be a victim or it is better that you were with your best friend’s fiance as he cheated on her?’ “</p><p class="p1">He said both Johnson and the accuser “regret what happened. Johnson regretted it because he cheated. The victim regretted it because she had sex with her best friend’s fiance.” </p><p class="p1">He told the judge that, in order to return a guilty verdict, he must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt in deciding whether Johnson had raped the accuser.</p><p class="p1">Waldron returned moments later with a verdict of “not guilty.” </p>