Johnson Found Guilty of Deputy’s Murder

After one day of deliberation, a jury found Michael Raymond Johnson guilty of first-degree murder and all other charges Thursday for fatally shooting a Ventura County sheriff’s deputy more than a year ago.

The verdicts were returned to a tense, hot courtroom packed with relatives of slain Deputy Peter J. Aguirre Jr. and law enforcement officials, who lauded the decision.

“This just shows that in Ventura County a peace officer’s life is still worth something,” Ventura County Sheriff Larry Carpenter told reporters outside the courtroom.

The jury also found Johnson, 50, of Ventura guilty of four other criminal charges, including attempted murder and spousal rape. And the panel found Johnson is eligible for the death penalty because of two special circumstances: He committed a murder in the course of a kidnapping and killed an on-duty police officer.

The findings propel the case into a penalty phase, in which the jury must decide whether Johnson should be executed or sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The penalty phase is set to begin Feb. 11.

More than two dozen deputies, investigators and top-ranking members of the Sheriff’s Department crowded into the small courtroom Thursday night after the jury announced it had reached verdicts.

Aguirre’s slaying July 19, 1996, marked the first time in 36 years that a county sheriff’s deputy was killed in the line of duty. And while law enforcement officials showed no reaction in the courtroom, their pleasure was evident outside, with firm handshakes and relieved smiles.

Asked if he was happy with the jury’s verdicts, Carpenter replied: “Happy would have been to see Peter walk into the courtroom. But this is a step in the right direction.”

Within minutes after the verdicts were read, a female dispatcher broadcast the ruling by radio to officers across the county. “Michael Johnson, guilty on all counts.” Then again, “Michael Johnson, guilty on all counts.”

Before the verdicts were read, Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren urged the anxious audience to refrain from emotional outbursts that might unintentionally influence the jury.

“Please, I implore you to restrain your emotions, whatever they might be,” the judge said. “To do otherwise may jeopardize other proceedings.”

But once the jurors left, Aguirre family members cried and fell into each other’s arms outside the courtroom. Still crying, they waved off a crowd of reporters and declined to comment on the rulings.

Deputy Public Defenders Todd Howeth and Brian Boles declined to discuss the jury’s findings because the case is not over. “We still have a penalty phase,” Boles said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew Hardy also declined to discuss the verdict at length, but said the vote showed the panel did not accept the defense theory that Aguirre acted improperly and put himself in a dangerous situation.

“We are grateful that the jury rejected the attacks against Peter Aguirre,” he said, “because he was a very heroic and outstanding officer.”

Aguirre, 26, was gunned down while responding to a domestic-disturbance call at the home of Johnson’s estranged wife in Meiners Oaks.

After speaking briefly with the wife, Aguirre stepped inside the home and was immediately shot three times by Johnson, who burst naked from a shower firing two guns, according to trial testimony.

The last shot was fired at point-blank range after the deputy collapsed on the floor--his gun still in its holster--in what prosecutors argued was an execution-style killing.

After shooting Aguirre, Johnson ran naked from the house and continued to fire at deputies before being shot by an officer in the chest.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that earlier in the day Johnson kidnapped his estranged wife and raped her by a stream bed before returning to the house where the shooting occurred.

Defense attorneys argued, however, that Johnson’s wife went with him willingly and had consensual sex. They admitted Johnson shot Aguirre but said it was unintentional and not premeditated, as prosecutors alleged.

In the end, the jury was not convinced. The panel of three men and nine women began their deliberations Thursday morning and returned unanimous verdicts on all the charges by 4:30 p.m.

The reading of the verdicts was held until 5:30 p.m. to allow the victim’s family and relatives of the defendant time to drive to the Ventura courthouse.

But with Johnson’s relatives running late, spectators and relatives shifted anxiously in their seats until 6 p.m. when the jury was finally called into court.

The jurors, as they filed in, glanced away from Johnson, who stood in a black suit with his head slightly bowed and his hands folded in front of him.

As the clerk read the verdicts, the defendant showed no reaction, but stared down at the defense table.

Behind him, his elderly parents locked arms, his mother wiping away tears.

And across the courtroom, Aguirre’s widow and parents also wept silently.

Aguirre’s father clasped his hands in a silent prayer. His widow, Enedina Aguirre, sat cross-legged in her chair with her head in her hands as a sheriff’s deputy gently placed a hand on her knee for comfort.