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Killer’s fate uncertain after ruling
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Judge Emery Plitt found Johns, 25, not criminally responsible for killing 20-year-old Phillip Parker Jr. aboard a prison bus in 2005, citing records showing Johns was going untreated for severe mental illness at the time. Now, attorneys are trying to determine if he can be kept in a secure prison like Baltimore’s Supermax rather than the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup.
“Clifton T. Perkins is a hospital. It doesn’t have the same level of security as at Supermax,” said S. Ann Brobst, assistant state’s attorney for Baltimore County.
When a defendants are found not criminally responsible, state law mandates they be turned over to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for treatment, Plitt said.
“We’re working with [Health and Mental Hygiene] to figure out the best circumstances for Mr. Johns,” said Rick Binetti, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety. “This is a new one for us. ... I’ve been unable to find any other inmates in our system who were found NCR.”
“DHMH has the ultimate goal of curing people and releasing them. That goal will never exist in this case,” Brobst said.
Even after treatment, Johns will have to serve a life sentence without parole for killing cellmate Armad Cloude, and 35 years for killing his uncle in 2002.
Judge Plitt agreed to delay turning Johns over to DHMH until June 23, giving attorneys for DHMH and the Division of Corrections time to work out a compromise, Binetti said. Brobst suggested leaving him at Supermax while sending DHMH doctors to him.
Johns’ attorney, Harry Trainor, said his client would not be as dangerous once he started to get proper treatment for his bipolar disorder and psychotic disorders.
msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
4:28 PM MST on Wed., Jun. 25, 2008 re: "Deal keeps mentally ill killer in prison for treatment"
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9:02 AM MST on Tue., Jun. 24, 2008
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11:31 AM MST on Wed., May. 7, 2008
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Examiner Reader said:
WHY WOULD YOU WAIST MONEY TO TREAT SOMEONE THAT IS DOING LIFE WITHOUT A CHANCE OF PAROLE. How does that make any since? No one could really ever know if treatment would work on Johns because there is no way to tell whats going on inside someones head no matter how much doctors want people to believe it.
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Examiner Reader said:
Johns is a killer, and he will kill again if given the opportunity. Since it was Judge Plitt's erroneous decision not to bestow the penalty of death upon Johns, society must be protected; and the only possible way to do that is to keep him locked in a cage within a maximum security prison. Furthermore, money spent on psychiatric treatment for a person such as Johns is a complete waste of our taxpayers' money. No matter how much psychiatric treatment is rendered on him, he will kill again in an instant.
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Examiner Reader said:
The problem with the DOC prison transport vehicles is that they play rock music loud and clear. We used to know the bus was approaching when it was more than a block away from the courthouse where I worked. Mr. Parker could have screamed loud and clear while being murdered, but the guards on the bus would never have heard his screams for help because of the loud rap music they play.
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