Murder trial in stabbing death underway

PALMER — Prosecutors displayed a murder weapon and played a three-hour police interview Friday as the trial of Spencer Johnson continued.

Spencer Johnson stands accused of stabbing Michael Plummer to death on the doorstep of a house along Knik-Goose Bay Road on March 7, 2012.

Details of the events leading up to Plummer’s death are broadly disputed by witnesses and participants, including details about a series of text messages sent prior to the stabbing, and what role, if any, Plummer may have played in the local drug trade.

During court proceedings, defense attorneys have alluded to toxicology reports showing Plummer was high on methamphetamine, MDMA, barbituates, and opiates at the time of his death.

Spencer Johnson told troopers during a three-hour interview after his arrest (a recording was played for jurors Friday) that a resident at the house was a known heroin dealer, and concerns about Holly Johnson’s sobriety lead them to the door of the Smith household.

Spencer Johnson told troopers in an interview after the stabbing that he and Andrew Johnson went to the house to retrieve a truck and speak with Andrew’s wife, Holly Johnson, who had been at Plummer’s house after a fight. Jessica Smith, engaged to Johnson, as well as two young children, were also in the house at the time of the altercation.

Andrew Johnson went to the front door, and a shoving match broke out between him and Plummer, witnesses told troopers. Spencer Johnson saw his father falling backward off the steps, pulled a fixed-blade knife from a holster on his left hip and shoved Plummer with the intention of moving him out of the way, he told troopers during his expletive-laced account of the night’s events.

Plummer’s fiancé, Jessica Smith, has told the Frontiersman and investigators that she heard a commotion, came to the top of the stairs, spotted Plummer holding his throat, as well as three men she didn’t recognize standing in the entryway to the house. She went back into a room, retrieved a handgun, and fired one shot at the men, who then fled.

Smith has also testified in previous proceedings that she witnessed no drug use in the house that evening, according to Frontiersman coverage of an evidence hearing, which would apparently contradict toxicology reports on Plummer.

Her shot hit Andrew Johnson, who was arrested after arriving at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center for treatment, according to court documents. Spencer Johnson later turned himself in to authorities at the federal courthouse in Anchorage.

“We went down there, my Dad just wanted to get his truck, and he wanted to get his wife out of the situation, the dude is a heroin dealer and likes to get (expletive)ed up, and he didn’t want his wife in a bad situation,” he is heard saying in the interview. “My dad knocks on the door. Dude opens it. My dad asks him where she’s at. Dude unloads on my dad. Dad hits him back. He goes in the house, right? Goes into the house like that. He’s going up the stairs. My dad got shot. Everything there was just … things got real crazy real quick.”

“I had a knife in my hand, tried to push the dude because I had a knife in my hand,” Spencer Johnson continued. “All I wanted to do was make sure my dad wasn’t going to get killed.”

In a jailhouse interview, Andrew Johnson said he was sentenced to 15 years’ incarceration in December after pleading guilty to manslaughter for his role in the case. Five of those years were suspended, meaning he’s on the hook for 10, with the other five hanging over his head if he messes up after he’s released. He said he has filed for post-conviction relief, alleging that his attorney coerced him into entering a plea.

Investigators found Holly Johnson relatively uncooperative at the scene of the crime, Trooper Investigator Shannon Fore testified Friday. She retained a cell phone after investigators told her they had warrants for cell phones involved in the incident. She also invoked her right not to testify against her spouse.

“She was a little bit shaken up,” he said. “Seeing someone dying or dead is a pretty tough experience. Getting some of the answers like, she didn’t want to tell us the stuff that was on the phone, she wanted us to figure it out on our own, just kind of made me feel like we had to be a little more confrontational with her, or ask more direct questions.”

“Some people, we’ll just say ‘Hey what happened here tonight?’ and they’ll talk for five minutes straight,” Fore added.

Prosecutor Brittany Dunlop alluded to Holly Johnson’s earlier testimony in the trial during one sequence of questions directed to Fore, during which Johnson apparently claimed she was using drugs even as officers responded to investigate Plummer’s death, as well as during Grand Jury testimony.

“When I’m asking about Holly’s demeanor, you have the benefit of hearing her testify that she was she was basically getting high — I don’t know if that’s shooting up or smoking or whatever — but getting high in between interviews while officers were there. Did you see any signs of that at all?” Dunlop asked.

“No,” Fore responded.

“Did she give you signs in her body language, her rate of speech, the way her eyes looked, any physical sign at all that she was under the influence?” Dunlop asked.

“No, and I don’t know her from previous … so basically I’ll compare that to other people from other scenes and the way they act her demeanor, those types of things were comparable to what people are (like) at other traumatic events,” Fore responded.

The defense case is expected to begin next week, attorneys said.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.