 |
| Marquesa Johnson |
Johnson pleaded guilty Wednesday to being an accessory to a 2009 slaying at a north Aurora motel.
Records at the Arapahoe County Jail and at the Arapahoe County Justice Center spell it the way we have since Johnson’s December 2009 arrest, that’s “Marquesa.” At the time of the arrest, police also spelled her name that way.
But today police said their records spell the name without an “r.”
And when I ran a state criminal record check on her, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation also spells it that way, “Maquesa.” (CBI also lists aliases of Darnisha, Damisha and Maquessa, but no Marquesa).
This isn’t the first time we’ve had an issue with a defendant’s name. In the case of Perish Carter, the prison, jail, courthouse and police all seemed to have a different spelling. A deputy told me last year that the courts had been spelling his name wrong for years, but because the misspelling had become widely used and widely accepted, they were going to keep using it.
In Carter’s case, we stick with “Perish” because that’s the way the prison system spells it, and at the prison he has to wear a name tag with his name spelled that way.
As for Johnson, we are going to stick with the original spelling we used to avoid too much confusion.
Click below for the latest version of the story —which includes a line at the end about the name confusion — as well as mugs of Turner and Godfrey.
-Brandon
Johnson accepts plea agreement
AURORA | One of three people charged with murder in connection with a 2009 slaying at an East Colfax Avenue motel accepted a plea deal Wednesday morning.
Marquesa Johnson, 22, pleaded guilty to being an accessory to a crime, a Class 4 felony, in exchange for prosecutors dropping 12 other charges against her, including first-degree murder and kidnapping stemming from the Dec. 29, 2009, slaying of Kendrick Williams, 25.
Johnson, who entered the plea in Arapahoe County District Court, is required to testify truthfully against co-defendants Darrius Turner, 20, and Riley Godfrey, 28, prosecutors said.
Judge Elizabeth Volz scheduled Johnson’s sentencing hearing for May, at which she faces between one and 12 years in prison on the accessory charge. Johnson has already served more than a year in jail since her arrest a few minutes after the slaying.
Johnson was expected to be released on bond from jail later Wednesday.
Riley Godfrey
Prosecutors said Williams’ family was aware of the plea agreement for Johnson, but none of them were present for Wednesday’s hearing.
Turner and Godfrey remain jailed with trials scheduled later this spring.
According to an arrest affidavit filed against Turner, a woman who was staying at the motel with Williams that night told police that Johnson didn’t shoot Williams, but she was there and helped the other two break in.
The woman told police that Williams left to go buy cigarettes that night and when he returned told her three people outside tried to rob him.
Williams grabbed the room’s television remote and went outside to confront the trio, the woman said. One of the suspects later told police Williams “motioned as if he had a gun, but no gun was ever seen.”
Williams fled into the room and the three suspects pounded on the door and windows, shouting threats.
After the suspects broke down the door, Williams fled to the bathroom.
Darrius Turner
While Williams hid in the bathroom and the suspects tried to break in, Turner shouted: “You want to make like you had a gun? Now I got a real f------ gun. I’m about to kill (you).”
Godfrey told the woman Williams was staying with to take off her clothes so she would be less likely to flee.
The suspects eventually broke the bathroom door down and the woman told police Godfrey grabbed the gun from Turner and shot Williams.
A short time later, police arrived and arrested Godfrey and Johnson near the scene. Police arrested Turner the next day at an Aurora convenience store.
It wasn’t clear from the affidavit exactly what started the dispute that night.
Godfrey told police the three were on Colfax in search of marijuana when they met up with Williams, whom one of them knew, and the group tried to buy drugs together but failed. Williams and Turner then got into an argument that escalated at the motel.
A witness told police Godfrey and Turner were in the area that night selling crack cocaine when they met with Williams.
After their arrests, Godfrey, Johnson and Turner were charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. In addition, all three were also charged with sentencing enhancers accusing them of committing a crime of violence.
Prior to her arrest in Williams’ murder, Johnson had been arrested eight times in Colorado on charges including domestic violence, shoplifting and assault, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records.
CBI records as well as Aurora police records spell Johnson’s first name “Maquesa,” but jail and court records spell it “Marquesa.”
No comments:
Post a Comment