A jury has convicted a person of first-degree homicide after he fatally stabbed his stepfather at their Rancho Bernardo house.
Pablo Johnson, 26, was discovered responsible on Tuesday of killing Michael Johnson, 61, at their Caminito Campana house on the night of Jan. 28, 2024.
In keeping with trial testimony, the sufferer sustained over 100 stab wounds and cuts, largely to his head, face and neck.
A girl strolling her canine simply earlier than 6 p.m. noticed a bloody Michael Johnson draped over the railing of the house’s patio and known as 911. Officers arrived a short while later and arrested Pablo Johnson, whereas Michael Johnson was pronounced useless on the scene.
Deputy District Attorney Cassidy McWilliams instructed jurors that the connection between the defendant and sufferer had grown contentious over what she stated was the defendant’s unwillingness to work or care for chores across the residence.
Jurors have been proven textual content messages between the pair that displayed escalating arguments over family chores and residing bills, which culminated in a bodily altercation in the future earlier than the killing.
McWilliams stated the defendant attacked his stepfather on Jan. 28 and stabbed him with sufficient drive to interrupt the knife into a number of items.
Deputy Public Defender Leanne Skirzynski stated what occurred that night was extra akin to a mutual struggle, which she stated was sparked by the sufferer. She instructed jurors Michael Johnson had been constantly abusive to her consumer and had bodily assaulted him on quite a few prior events.
She stated that one more argument between the pair on Jan. 28 resulted in Michael Johnson charging at her consumer within the house’s kitchen, prompting Pablo Johnson to seize the very first thing he may to defend himself, which was a knife.
Each males armed themselves with knives and in the course of the ensuing melee, Skirzynski stated, her consumer was “flailing” his knife, quite than concentrating on any explicit place on his stepfather’s physique. One other knife discovered close to Michael’s physique bore none of her consumer’s DNA, she stated.
The prosecutor stated that whereas Michael Johnson had a number of stab wounds and different accidents, Pablo Johnson had nearly no wounds to his physique, apart from a pair of small cuts to his fingers, which she stated have been doubtless unintended self-inflicted wounds sustained in the course of the deadly assault.
