WEBVTT WAS 16 IN 2010.RUSSELL BARNES CONTINUIN THETHE 16-YEAR-OLD BODY FOUND FOURHER SISTERS EX-BOYFRIEND MICHAELJOHNSON IN THEIR HALLWAY WITH AJOHNSON HAD NO SHIRT ON AND HETHAT IS BECAUSE THE STATE CLAIMSMR. TO A GREAT THE INTERACTIONIT IS A KEY PROSECUTION POINTWH JOHNSON MOVED OUT SEVERALALL THREE WITNESSES ANSWEREDTHAN SEVEN YEARS AGO
Witnesses in Michael Johnson trial 'don't really remember'
Updated: 5:41 PM EDT Mar 13, 2018
The time that has passed since the death of Phylicia Barnes and the third trial of Michael Johnson is starting to show.All three witnesses who testified Tuesday for the state said in some way to both sides that "it was so many years ago, I just don't really remember."Barnes, 16, disappeared in December 2010, and her body was found four months later in the Susquehanna River. Her sister's ex-boyfriend, Johnson, was charged with murdering her and is being tried a third time.The state called Johnson's former next-door neighbor, Elvis Teaoh, to the stand Tuesday. Teaoh said that on Dec. 28, 2010, he saw Johnson in their shared hallway sometime between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. with a "relatively large, sky-blue tub." "His door was open ... I saw moving stuff inside the apartment," Teaoh said. Teaoh said it was winter and Johnson had no shirt on and "he was a little sweaty" and struggling to lift the bin off of the floor. The state claims Barnes' body was inside the container. On cross-examination Teaoh agreed that the interaction lasted just moments, and, yes, he has previously testified that the container in question was a different size. The size of the container was a key prosecution point that the state struggled to make with their next witness, Johnson's former property manager, Patricia Corona. Corona said that when Johnson moved out "several exceptionally large blue totes were left behind, and one, about 3 feet tall and 5 feet long, was full of paintball equipment."Johnson's younger brother was called to testify Tuesday afternoon.
BALTIMORE — The time that has passed since the death of Phylicia Barnes and the third trial of Michael Johnson is starting to show.
All three witnesses who testified Tuesday for the state said in some way to both sides that "it was so many years ago, I just don't really remember."
Barnes, 16, disappeared in December 2010, and her body was found four months later in the Susquehanna River. Her sister's ex-boyfriend, Johnson, was charged with murdering her and is being tried a third time.
The state called Johnson's former next-door neighbor, Elvis Teaoh, to the stand Tuesday. Teaoh said that on Dec. 28, 2010, he saw Johnson in their shared hallway sometime between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. with a "relatively large, sky-blue tub."
"His door was open ... I saw moving stuff inside the apartment," Teaoh said.
Teaoh said it was winter and Johnson had no shirt on and "he was a little sweaty" and struggling to lift the bin off of the floor. The state claims Barnes' body was inside the container.
On cross-examination Teaoh agreed that the interaction lasted just moments, and, yes, he has previously testified that the container in question was a different size.
The size of the container was a key prosecution point that the state struggled to make with their next witness, Johnson's former property manager, Patricia Corona.
Corona said that when Johnson moved out "several exceptionally large blue totes were left behind, and one, about 3 feet tall and 5 feet long, was full of paintball equipment."
Johnson's younger brother was called to testify Tuesday afternoon.