Former Marine Ronald Andrew Johnson has carried the burden of an accused murderer for almost three years after fatally stabbing a Rice University basketball player on Northgate in 2007.
But on Thursday, he will return to his construction science classes at Texas A&M as a free man after a Brazos County jury found him not guilty in the death of Jonathan Bailey.
The verdict came after defense attorneys pleaded with the jury of five women and seven men to view the death as a means of self-defense, not aggression. The panel took more than four hours to reach its decision.
Johnson's lawyers conceded that he stabbed Jonathan Bailey four times in the chest during a fight behind the V-Bar in College Station. They also acknowledged that he stabbed the man's twin brother, Janson Bailey, causing him to suffer a punctured lung and deep gash in his side.
But the stabbings were a desperate effort to save Johnson's "Marine brother" Michael Fuller, who was being savagely beaten by the Bailey twins, defense lawyers said.
"Every death is a tragedy, but this tragedy is not a crime," said Murray Newman, one of the three defense lawyers in the case.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, argued that the Marines and the Bailey twins were engaged in a typical bar fight. Johnson escalated it by pulling out a knife and stabbing the twins, an action that was nowhere near necessary, they said.
"It was a bar fight; we have them all the time. People call the cops; it's a misdemeanor," said Assistant District Attorney Jarvis Parsons. "The only person that introduced a knife here is Ronald Johnson. You don't do that -- especially when you are drinking." As he spoke, Parsons displayed for jurors a picture of Jonathan Bailey. "Because people go from this --," he said, and then switched to a picture displaying an autopsy photo of a bloody Jonathan Bailey, "-- to this."
Under state law, a person is allowed to use deadly force to protect a third party if he reasonably believes that force is immediately necessary at the time to protect from death or serious bodily injury.
The jury was instructed to consider whether a reasonable person who knew and understood what Johnson did at the time would have felt that such force was necessary to defend Fuller.
They were also given the option to convict Johnson of the lesser included offense of manslaughter if they felt Johnson acted irresponsibly. If found guilty of that charge, he could have faced between two and 20 years in prison. He faced up to a 99-year sentence for the murder charge.
About 50 people sat through the closing arguments and waited around the courthouse Wednesday to hear the verdict. Michael Fuller sat directly behind Johnson, with about six men in military uniforms behind him.
They fell silent after the verdict was read. Johnson's lawyers patted him on the back and shook his hand, and his parents cried silently behind him.
Janson Bailey, who now teaches high school in Beaumont, watched the closing arguments with his mother and brothers. They quickly and quietly left the courtroom after the verdict was read.
Both families declined to comment after the case.
Johnson is now a junior at Texas A&M. Fuller has served his fourth tour in Iraq since the stabbing and has passed an exam to become a firefighter.
Three fights; two stories
Johnson moved to College Station four days before his arrest, his lawyers said. Fuller, who he served with Johnson in Iraq, had come to visit him from Dallas on the night of the fight, he testified.
The pair crossed paths with the Bailey twins as the brothers were celebrating their 22nd birthday at the V-Bar, where Janson Bailey previously worked as a bouncer, according to testimony.
Fuller was at the bar waiting for a drink when Janson Bailey bumped against him, witnesses said. Fuller turned and pushed Janson Bailey, who punched him in the face. Royce Rodriguez, Janson Bailey's friend, also punched Fuller, who was then forced outside, witnesses said.
Janson Bailey followed Fuller into the street outside the bar, and another fight ensued, witnesses said. During the second skirmish, Fuller's wallet fell onto the street, and Rodriguez picked it up and threw it back at him, Fuller and Rodriguez testified.
Fuller, whose contacts had been knocked out and was bleeding from the face at the time, testified that he believed his debit card and driver's license were missing from the wallet. Johnson arrived, asked him what happened and Fuller told him that Janson Bailey had stolen his belongings, Fuller said.
Investigators testified that Fuller's cards were actually inside the bar, where they were being used to hold his bar tab open.
Johnson and Fuller jogged down an alley behind the V-Bar to confront Janson Bailey, and a third fight occurred.
Prosecutors argued that the decision by the two Marines to chase after Janson Bailey was unreasonable and a sign of their true intentions. They could have easily called the police or canceled Fuller's debit card, prosecutors said.
The Bailey twins were stabbed in the third fight. Defense attorneys argued that Janson Bailey's twin brother and at least five of his friends caught up to the group, knocked Fuller to the ground and viciously beat him.
Many of them kicked and punched Fuller in the face and head, smashing bones in his skull, causing a concussion and giving him double vision that still bothers him today. Johnson's lawyers showed jurors pictures of Fuller in a hospital bed the day after the fight with bruises and gashes on his face and his eyes swollen shut.
Johnson was forced to pull his knife to protect Fuller, who could have died if the beatings continued, defense attorneys said.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, have portrayed the fight as a jumping, in which Fuller and Johnson teamed up against Janson Bailey. Janson Bailey testified that the two knocked him down and punched him while he lay in the fetal position on the ground. Jonathan Bailey came to his rescue, pulled Fuller off and was then stabbed by Johnson, Janson Bailey said.
Janson Bailey did kick Fuller in the face with his size 13 foot, the prosecutors conceded, but it was after the twins had already been stabbed.
But Johnson's lawyers disputed prosecutors' assertions that Jonathan Bailey was innocent in the fight. He had bruises on his hands, autopsy results showed, and witnesses testified that he pulled off his shirt as he ran toward the skirmish, which the lawyers suggested was a sign that he wanted to fight.
Prosecutors said Johnson's actions after the stabbing were indicators of his guilt. He drove immediately home, hid his knife and bloody clothes and bought ammonia the next morning, investigators testified. If Johnson hadn't done anything wrong, he would have gone to the police immediately after the fight or taken Fuller to the hospital, they said.
"At the end of the day, this case was just riddled with reasonable doubt, and the jury told us in no uncertain terms that they could never convict a young man -- particularly a guy like Ron Johnson -- with murder or aggravated assault unless they were sure, and they couldn't be sure," said Dan Cogdell, Johnson's lead defense attorney. "There was just too many holes, too many problems and too many questions, and they correctly found a reasonable doubt."
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