Murderer Convicted Again in Retrial

DA Charme Allen announces that prosecutors in the Career Gang Unit obtained convictions in the retrial of a man who committed a brutal murder.  Micah Ross Johnson, 36, was convicted of First Degree Murder, Especially Aggravated Kidnapping, and Especially Aggravated Robbery.  Judge Scott Green revoked Johnson’s bond and ordered him to serve life in prison.

In an eleven-day trial, Assistant District Attorneys TaKisha Fitzgerald and Larry Dillon explained to the jury that on March 19, 2008, Knoxville Police Department officers responded to a murder at a residence in North Knoxville.  The investigation revealed that Johnson went to the residence that his girlfriend shared with the victim, Carrie Daugherty.  Once there, Johnson stuck the victim in the head with a brick with enough force to break the brick.  Johnson then used a shovel and other objects to continue the attack.  Johnson claimed to be insane at the time of the murder, but the jury disagreed, finding him guilty-as-charged.  A jury in 2011 also discredited Johnson’s insanity defense and found him guilty of the offense.  Johnson gave a drastically different version of the offense to the defense expert psychiatrist than the version of the offense that ended up in that defense expert psychiatrist’s final report.  In 2022, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals overturned that conviction because of the actions of the defense attorney in the 2011 trial surrounding the issue of the defense expert.

“We are glad that with this jury’s verdict, the defendant is back in custody and off our streets again,” said DA Allen.

The case is set for sentencing on July 21 for the additional counts.  After the original trial, Johnson was sentenced to life in prison plus fifty years.  Prosecutors will again seek this sentence.  Assistant Victim Witness Coordinator Sheri Burkett aided in the prosecution of this case.

If you have any questions, please contact Sean McDermott at 865-215-2515 or Sean.McDermott@knoxcounty.org. For more information about the District Attorney’s Office, visit our website at dag.knoxcountytn.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.