Harford Inmate not criminally responsible for bus strangulation

Harford County (Map, News) - A Harford County judge found twice-convicted killer Kevin Johns not criminally responsible for strangling fellow inmate Phillip Parker, Jr., aboard a Baltimore-bound prison bus in February 2005.

Circuit Court Judge Emery Plitt ruled that Johns, 25, was guilty of strangling Parker, but his long history of mental illness and the fact that he was taken off medication in the months prior to the murder meant he could not conform his behavior to the law.

“There were ample warnings. Mr. Johns had been off his medication for some time,” Plitt said. “Not one of the mental health professionals who saw and evaluated him during this critical period of time considered him to be malingering or ‘faking’ his behavior.”

Plitt, a former counsel for the department of public safety, chided the Department of Corrections officers who did not notice that Johns’ chains were loose, that he changed seats on the DOC bus to sit next to Parker, and overheard but did not act upon Johns’ promise in the courtroom that if he would kill again if not treated.

When a defendant is found “not criminally responsible,” they are handed over to the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for treatment, but Baltimore County prosecutor S. Ann Brobst argued Johns was too dangerous for the Clifton T. Perkins hospital — having already killed two people inside the prison system. Plitt gave attorneys until June 23 to work out a potential compromise, which Brobst said could include keeping him inside the prison system and bringing doctors to him.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com

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