Catching Johnson's killer is DA's top priority

By Fred Mramor of the Desert Journal

More than a month after the April 21 murder of David Johnson at his Truth or Consequences home, Seventh Judicial District Attorney Clint Wellborn said investigators still lack sufficient evidence to arrest and prosecute any suspect. Johnson, 47, was a retired attorney from Albuquerque who recently opened a ceramic shop on Main Street.

In a telephone interview Thursday Wellborn said, however, the Johnson case is his office’s top priority and that prosecutors and investigators are working on it on an almost daily basis.

Wellborn would not say what more evidence prosecutors need in order to arrest and convict a suspect in the murder case for fear of hampering the investigation and ultimate prosecution.

Wellborn would not comment about evidence investigators have already recovered, such as murder weapons, and, according to unofficial sources, bloody clothes purportedly found with a suspect, but said only that results of forensic tests are still pending.

The district attorney said that though prosecutors were fortunate in having the  evidence they needed to make quick arrests in Sierra County’s two previous homicides this year, it is not unusual for it to take as long as it has in the Johnson case for investigators to obtain sufficient evidence to make a solid arrest.

Wellborn also would not say if prosecutors have any particular suspect in mind, though T or C Police Chief David Bryant less than a week after the murder said police were prepared to arrest a suspect.

But Bryant the following week said he was advised by the DA’s office that police did not have sufficient evidence to execute their arrest. David Johnson’s killer therefore remains at large.

Wellborn said that until a suspect is arrested and convicted, prosecutors are always concerned that a killer could get away.

But - as criminal defendants enjoy the constitutional guarantee of a speedy trial - Wellborn said police and prosecutors cannot hold suspects indefinitely until they are ready to bring them to trial.

Wellborn said finally that if he were more concerned about the public’s confidence in police and prosecutors than in making a good arrest and correctly prosecuting a defendant, he would be concerned about his own priorities.

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