ROSALEEIA JOHNSON - 2 Months (2009) - Staunton VA

A jury deliberated for nearly four hours Friday before convicting Staunton teen Ashkea Johnson on a charge of first-degree murder in the suffocation death of her 2-month-old baby.The 12-person jury also found Johnson guilty of attempted second-degree murder, bringing an end to the two-day trial.The 18-year-old Johnson, who did not testify, wept softly as the verdicts were read in Staunton Circuit Court.Johnson's baby, Rosaleeia Johnson, was lifeless when police and rescue personnel responded to the family's apartment at 337 N. Central Ave. the morning of Nov. 15, 2009, after a 911 call from Johnson.The baby died four days later at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville after being declared brain-dead and taken off of life support.Johnson initially claimed she found her daughter unresponsive in her baby carrier after leaving the child alone for about five minutes.But under questioning by Investigator Chad Nestor of the Staunton Police Department, two weeks after the baby died Johnson confessed to smothering the child by placing a plastic diaper bag over her face, and demonstrated how she killed her daughter by using a CPR doll. On Thursday, the jury viewed the entire three-hour interrogation and again watched parts of the tape Friday while in deliberations.Assistant public defender David Smith, who in August lost a motion to have the confession thrown out, argued that Johnson was coerced into confessing. On the stand Friday, Nestor admitted he told Johnson she could get less prison time if she came clean about the killing."So misleading is OK?" Smith asked."I believe they call it bluffing," Nestor said of the common police tactic.With no forensic evidence to help support a murder charge against Johnson, the death could have fallen under the category of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, said assistant Staunton prosecutor Anne Reed. She praised Nestor's work and said the state would not have had a case without the confession."We would have had a lot of suspicions," she said after the verdicts.
Johnson's older sister lost a child to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, according to testimony.




In September, shortly after the child was born she was admitted to Augusta Health. Kurtis Sauder, a physician with Blue Ridge Pediatrics, testified that while checking on Rosaleeia at the hospital, Johnson told him the child had rolled off a couch."Two-week-old babies are not capable of rolling over," he said.Despite Sauder's doubts, the baby was sent home with Johnson because there were no injuries to report.Johnson would later admit to police that she dropped the baby on purpose when she was 2 weeks old.The baby again was admitted Nov. 8 for a "life-threatening event," Sauder said. After the baby was released, Johnson was told to bring her baby in for a checkup in two to three days. She never showed, Sauder said.Johnson later admitted to police that she tried to smother her baby on Nov. 8 — Reed labeled it a "practice run" — but said she had second thoughts before following through with the slaying about a week later.With Rosaleeia still clinging to life following her hospitalization on Nov. 15, 2009, Johnson sent out an e-mail concerning a fundraising dinner to help raise money for a gravestone. Tara Roberts, Johnson's former culinary arts teacher at Valley Vocational-Technical Center in Fishersville, said she found the e-mail troubling."She was already thinking about the future as if nothing had happened," Roberts said.During closing arguments, Reed reminded the jury that Johnson referred to her child as "it" before correcting herself in the videotaped confession. "To Ashkea Johnson, Rosie was just an it, an object," Reed said.However, Smith argued to the end that proof was lacking against his client."There is no forensic evidence in support of these charges," he said.Johnson, tried as an adult, now faces the possibility of a life sentence. Reed said she could still be sentenced as a juvenile because she was just 17 when she killed her child.A sentencing date has not been set. Johnson remains at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona.

A Staunton woman who was a teenager when she smothered her
2-month-old baby girl in 2009 will be sentenced this morning on a charge
of first-degree murder.Ashkea P. Johnson, now 19, was tried as
an adult, could be condemned to life in prison. The are an estimated 48
offenders serving life sentences in Virginia for crimes committed while
they were a juvenile, according to The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing
of Youth.
Circuit Judge Humes J. Franklin Jr. also has the option
of sentencing Johnson as a juvenile, possibly incarcerating her until
the age of 21.
A jury convicted Johnson in December 2010 for the
death Rosaleeia Johnson, who died four days after her mother placed a
plastic diaper bag over her face the morning of Nov. 15, 2009.
Besides
the first-degree murder conviction, the jury also found Johnson guilty
of attempted second-degree murder after she admitted to police that she
tried to kill her baby the week before the Nov. 15 incident. She also
confessed to dropping the baby on purpose when she was just two weeks
old.
The child was the second for Johnson, who became pregnant with her first child when she was 14 years old.
At
the trial, evidence showed the baby was lifeless when police and rescue
personnel responded to the family's apartment in the 300 block of North
Central Avenue after Johnson called 911.
Johnson initially
claimed she found the child unresponsive after she was left alone in a
baby carrier for about five minutes. However, under questioning by
police two weeks after the baby's death, Johnson admitted to smothering
her with a plastic bag. With the use of a CPR doll, she demonstrated to
police how she killed the baby.
A local pediatrician testified at
the trial that Rosaleeia was two weeks old when first admitted to
Augusta Health in Fishersville. He said Johnson claimed the baby rolled
off a couch, an act the doctor said newborns aren't capable of doing.
Johnson
later admitted to police that she tried to smother her baby on Nov. 8,
2009 — labeled a "practice run" by Staunton Assistant Commonwealth's
Attorney Anne Reed — but said she had second thoughts before following
through with the slaying about a week later.
With Rosaleeia still
clinging to life following her hospitalization, Johnson sent out an
email concerning a fundraising dinner to help raise money for a
gravestone.
The baby died after being taken off life-support.
Since
her convictions, Johnson has been held at Middle River Regional Jail,
where she has been seen by a court-appointed psychologist. Court records
show the psychologist noted Johnson has an extensive mental health
history and a vast written record of treatment. Records state that
Johnson suffers from bipolar disorder and began cutting herself in the
sixth grade.
Johnson's sentencing hearing begins at 10 a.m. in Staunton Circuit Court.
http://www.newsleader.com/article/20120517/NEWS01/205170331/Staunton-woman-convicted-killing-baby-sentenced-today