Witnesses to the Ogden Murder Trial Describe Alibi Plan, Comment on “End Him” ​​| News, sports, jobs

BEN DORGER, standard auditor File photo

Theron Farmer will enter his preliminary hearing in the 2nd District Court in Ogden on Monday, October 21, 2019. Farmer and Daniel Viegas-Gonzalez were charged with murder after being accused of killing an Ogden teenager earlier this year.

OGDEN – A Layton woman testified on Friday that she agreed to give Theron Joseph Farmer an alibi when he tried to evade police investigating a gunfight in West Ogden on February 11, 2019.

The 25-year-old farmer from Ogden is on trial in 2nd District Court for serious murder and attempted murder in the death of 18-year-old Ben Lomond High School student Kamron Johnson and the serious injury of his brother Eric Johnson.

The woman, who was 16 at the time, said she was Farmer’s friend and they traded and used drugs together. On the morning of February 11, she said Farmer had contacted her. “He said something big was going to happen and that I need to keep an eye on the news,” she said.

Farmington Farmer and Daniel Viegas-Gonzalez are charged with walking to Eric Johnson’s home on West Lake Street at around 2:45 p.m. The Johnsons were shot dead and police said the alleged perpetrators stole items from the house.

The woman said Farmer called her a few hours later. “He said, ‘You have to come and get me, I’m freaking out,'” she said. Attorney Jamie Swink asked her if Farmer told her why. She said he didn’t, but she added, “I put two and two together.”

She said she went to Del Taco in Layton and bought chicken tacos. “I wanted to be his alibi,” she said. She and two other people drove to Ogden and picked up Farmer from his mother’s house on 28th Street. She took a picture of Farmer holding the bag of tacos.

Back at her home in Layton, he showed her an internet news report of the West Ogden shooting and his photo as a suspect, she testified. “It sounded like he was proud of it,” she said.

Another friend, now 21, testified that Farmer spoke about the robbery while driving to Layton. “He said he and Eric had an argument and he was going to rob Eric and it didn’t go as planned,” she said.

Kamron Johnson was home sick from school and Viegas-Gonzalez was ransacking the house for items to steal, the woman said Farmer told them. “Danny shot Kamron and Eric was trying to get up and Danny ran in and shot Eric.” She said Farmer told Viegas-Gonzalez, “Kill him so there won’t be any witnesses,” and Viegas-Gonzalez said, “It there are no more bullets in the gun. “

A coroner testified early Friday that Kamron Johnson was shot in the head and chest and any wound would have been fatal.

Dr. Lily Marsden of the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner testified that she performed an autopsy on Johnson the day after the shooting. She said he was shot in the head once, the bullet pierced the skull and both sides of the brain. The other shot went into his chest, penetrating both lungs, one of his airways, and his esophagus.

Marsden said she couldn’t tell which bullet was fired first, but any wound was enough to kill Johnson. She said she pulled a bullet out of Johnson’s back. That loop went through the body, she said, adding that she found a cartridge case tucked into a cap Johnson was wearing when he was killed.

Another doctor testified about debilitating injuries sustained by Eric Johnson, who was shot three times but survived.

Dr. Justin Mansfield, an internal medicine specialist who practices at Layton, said the elder Johnson suffered gunshot wounds in his chest, arm and thigh. Mansfield was Eric Johnson’s family doctor and saw him several times during his recovery.

The shot in the chest missed Eric Johnson’s heart by 2 to 3 millimeters, Mansfield said. The fact that the bullet “barely slipped past his heart is probably why this patient is alive today,” he said.

Another bullet hit Eric Johnson in the left arm. Mansfield said it hit the humerus and broke it in two. During the operation, debris and bone fragments were removed and the frayed edges of the two bone segments were sawed off. The surgeon then bandaged the bone with a rod and plates. The humerus was 14 inches long, but afterwards it was 12 inches long. “Now he lives with a significantly shorter limb, one arm shorter than the other,” said Mansfield. “It’s a difficult transformation.”

The shot in Johnson’s thigh caused severe soft tissue damage, Mansfield said. For months he sat in a wheelchair, then in a standing chair, then he could walk short distances with a balance aid. By April 2020 he could “take small walks alone,” said Mansfield.

Prosecutors called Mandy Krueger, a crime analyst with the Ogden Police Department, who said she had checked the contents of Farmer’s phone, including call logs, text messages, pictures and online searches. She said GPS data showed Farmer’s phone was in the West Ogden area at the time of the shooting.

The trial will continue on Monday and could last until the end of the week, said Judge Reuben Renstrom.

Viegas-Gonzalez is tried separately. His next pre-trial hearing will be on November 16.

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