Texts debated in murder case

PALMER — As trial grows closer, both sides in the case of the killing of Michael Plummer met Thursday to talk a lot about text messages.

One text message in particular seemed to stand out.

“There was a text message saying, ‘I’m coming to stab your homegirl in the throat,’” Jessica Smith, who was engaged to Plummer when he died, testified Thursday.

The text seemed eerily prescient as Plummer bled to death March 7, 2012, in the home of Smith’s parents, after being stabbed in the neck. Two men are accused of murder in the case — Andrew Johnson, 39, and his son, Spencer Johnson, 20, The younger Johnson is accused of wielding the weapon that killed Plummer.

But, judging by Thursday’s hearing, quite a few details of what actually happened that night are in dispute. For instance, who sent that text message?

Smith testified that she heard about the text from Andrew Johnson’s wife, Holly Johnson, who was there the night of the killing, and who says she received that text.

But she also told her friend that, though the text came from Andrew Johnson’s phone, it didn’t sound like him. It sounded like the way Spencer Johnson talked.

Which might not necessarily be a big deal except that Holly Johnson is invoking her right not to testify against her spouse. So she might not be available to actually say that to a jury when the case goes to trial.

Also at issue — what exactly happened in the hours leading up to Plummer’s death.

Smith has told the story numerous times, including in the Frontiersman. She said she, Plummer and Holly Johnson were there that night along with her two kids and her parents.

“She said she was fighting with her husband and wanted to hang out,” Smith said of why Holly Johnson was there.

They watched two movies. She put the girls down to sleep and was getting ready to turn in herself.

But attorneys representing the two Johnson men have a different take on the events from that night.

Joseph Van De Mark, representing the elder Johnson, pointed to toxicology reports from Plummer.

“He was high as a kite,” Van De Mark said in court, listing drugs that showed up on that report — methamphetamines, MDMA, barbiturates and opiates, among others.

“I don’t believe that,” Smith replied.

Van De Mark asked if she took drugs out of Plummer’s pocket after he died.

“I’m not even sure he had pockets,” she said.

“Before the cops came, after the homicide, you shot up?” Van De Mark asked.

“No,” she replied.

Paul Maslakowski, representing the younger Johnson, asked about Plummer’s history. He asked if Smith knew that Holly Johnson had been having trouble with her sobriety, had possession of one of her husband’s trucks and that Plummer had supplied Holly Johnson with drugs in the past.

Smith denied all those things and reiterated that she didn’t do drugs that night.

“I didn’t use drugs and I didn’t see Holly or Mike do drugs,” she said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.