Appellate court upholds Greene County conviction in attempted sex assault case
The state Superior Court affirmed the denial of a Bobtown man’s appeal in an attempted sexual assault case.
In a 2-1 decision issued earlier this week, the majority found that Carl Edward Johnson’s trial attorney was not ineffective for presenting testimony about his reputation for chastity.
Johnson, 49, was convicted of attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault and indecent exposure for a 2005 incident involving a 5-year-old girl. He was sentenced to 60 to 120 months in prison.
He filed direct appeals of his convictions, which were denied, and then filed an appeal claiming his trial attorney was ineffective under the Post-Conviction Relief Act. A denial of the appeal by a Greene County judge was on appeal to the state Superior Court.
Johnson had alleged that his attorney should have presented the testimony from eight witnesses who would have said he had a reputation of his chaste behavior around children at his trial.
However, when a hearing on the post-conviction appeal was held, those witnesses testified about their specific knowledge of Johnson’s behavior around children, not his general reputation.
Those “proposed witnesses did not offer admissible testimony,” according to the ruling.
“(N)one of (Johnson’s) proposed witnesses testified as to (his) general reputation for having chastity as a character trait, but, in fact opined that (Johnson) was innocent of the crimes charged because he always acted appropriately around children in the family,” the opinion stated.
Johnson was convicted in 2007. State police charged that he tried to force the girl to perform a sex act on him in 2005 when she was staying at his home. He denied doing anything to the child, but police charged him after the girl came forward with what had occurred.
HeraldStandard.com does not identify victims in sex assault cases.