A man scheduled to go on trial next week facing three murder charges has rejected a plea agreement offer.
David Johnson IV, 39, shook his head after the state’s offer was read: Plead guilty to murder in the shooting death of Alfred Wiley, 46, with an agreed 45-year sentence, and plead guilty to two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of Aareon Lackey, 18, and his brother, Antonio Lackey, 16, with an agreed sentence of 45 years on each count.
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The agreement outlines that attorneys would argue whether the sentences for the brothers’ killings would be served consecutively or concurrently to one another, but both sides would agree that the Wiley sentence would be served at the same time as the sentence for the Lackey homicides, Robert Persin, deputy prosecutor, said.
Judge Diane Ross Boswell, who earlier this year ruled the cases should be tried together, was asked by Johnson’s attorney, Roseann Ivanovich, to separate the two cases for his trial.
Ivanovich argued that the jury could be confused with the large number of witnesses in the Lackey case and that her client would be unduly prejudiced if the cases were tried together. She said the killings occurred in different places and involved different people.
Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Jatkiewicz noted that the cases are connected through a .38-caliber revolver, which analysis by a Lake County police firearms examiner showed was used to kill Wiley on April 28, 2015 in the Miller section of Gary. The same gun emerged as one of the motives in the Lackey brothers’ homicides in June 2015, Jatkiewicz said, because Johnson wanted the gun back from Aareon Lackey.
Johnson’s wife, Jeri Woods, 35, is serving a 120-year sentence following her conviction June 2 on charges of two counts of murder, two counts of murder in perpetration of kidnapping and two counts of kidnapping in the Lackey homicides.
Johnson’s son, co-defendant David Johnson V, 21, and another co-defendant, Kiontay Cason, 23, testified against Woods at her three-week trial. Both David Johnson V and Cason pleaded guilty to two counts of kidnapping.
Also charged are Aarion Greenwood, 20; his girlfriend, Michelle Hughes, 28; and David Johnson III, 64, who is the father of David Johnson IV. They have pleaded not guilty.
Ruth Ann Krause is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.