Robert T Johnson (lawyer)

Early life

Johnson was born in the Bronx, and grew up in the Amsterdam Houses, a housing project on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He went to James Monroe High School, then enlisted in the United States Navy in 1968, and went on to graduate from the City College of New York with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. In 1975, he graduated from the New York University School of Law.

Career

Upon graduating from law school, Johnson went to work as a defense attorney for the Legal Aid Society. In 1978, he became a prosecutor for the Bronx County District Attorney's office, eventually rising to the rank of Narcotics Bureau chief.

Johnson was appointed a New York City Criminal Court judge in 1986 by Mayor Edward Koch. He later served as an Acting New York Supreme Court Justice.

Bronx County District Attorney

In 1988, Johnson ran for the office of Bronx County District Attorney, and won the Democratic primary election in September, which virtually guaranteed him of winning the general election in November. He was elected without opposition, as no Republican candidate had even filed to run in the race, making him the first African-American to be elected to the position of District Attorney in New York State. He was re-elected six times, often without opposition.

In 2005, he became the longest-serving Bronx County District Attorney.

Johnson was criticized at times for his performance as district attorney, with judges specifically criticizing his management and policies, noting that his office had a high rate of cases which it declined to prosecute. At the end of his tenure, Bronx prosecutors were winning jury trials less than half the time, a rate significantly lower than any other borough in New York City, and had a high percentage of dismissed cases and a persistent crippling backlog that affected both defendants and crime victims.

Dispute over the death penalty with New York Governor Pataki

On March 14, 1996, New York City police officer Kevin Gillespie was shot to death in the Bronx, and three men were immediately arrested in his killing. Ex-convict Angel Diaz was named as the gunman. The next day, Republican Governor George Pataki was publicly pressuring Johnson, an opponent of the death penalty, to seek it against Diaz, and threatening to take the case away from Johnson if he refused to do so. Johnson wrote in a letter to Pataki that he wanted the 120 days allotted under New York State law to decide whether or not to seek the death penalty, and threatened to take Pataki to court if he tried to remove him from the case. The following day, Pataki followed through on his threat and removed Johnson from the case, assigning it to Dennis Vacco, the New York State Attorney General. In response, Johnson sued Pataki for jurisdiction over the case.

Several weeks later, Vacco announced that he intended to pursue the death penalty, and the following day New York State Supreme Court Justice Howard Silver upheld Pataki's decision to remove Johnson from the case as within his authority.

In September 1996, Diaz hung himself in his jail cell, ending the practical aspects of the dispute. The two men arrested with Diaz, Ricardo Morales and Jesus Mendez, were eventually convicted of several charges including second degree murder in May 1997 and sentenced to mandatory life in prison, and on appeal, the New York Court of Appeals upheld Pataki's removal of Johnson as constitutional in December 1997.

Notable Cases

Reversal of the conviction of Franklin Beauchamp by the Court of Appeals, a former teacher at a day-care center found guilty of nine counts rape and sodomy charges for sexually abusing three children, after the District Attorney's Office improperly drafted the indictment.

Anthony Rivers was acquitted on homicide charges for killing Police Officer Vincent Guidice in the line of duty.

Police Officer Francis Livoti was acquitted of the murder of Anthony Baez after Officer Livoti placed Mr. Baez in a choke hold because an errant football struck a police vehicle.

Mass acquittals of fifteen police officers from the 48th precinct accused of beating Oliver Jones.

Wrongful conviction of Alberto Ramos for raping a student. Exonerated after serving seven years in jail.

Acquittal of Police Officer Michael Meyer on charges of attempted murder, accused of shooting Antoine Reed, a "squeegee man" who soaped up the windshield of the officer's car while it was stopped on an exit ramp of the Major Deegan Expressway.

Failure to bring charges against Officer Mark Conway for the shooting of an unarmed teenager.

Acquittal of convicted felon Rafael Then, accused of running over a police officer and breaking her leg with a stolen car.

Acquittals of the four officers who shot an killed unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo.

Wrongful attempted murder conviction Darren Felix based upon coerced eyewitness testimony.

Disabled Navy veteran Tyrone Hicks exonerated by DNA evidence after being wrongfully convicted of rape and serving ten years in jail.

Acquittal of bus driver Orphadell Williams after a motor vehicle accident killed fifteen passengers.

Wrongful convictions of the Soundview Five who spent over seventeen years in jail on murder charges until being exonerated.

After an indictment charging Police Officer Richard Haste with the murder of Ramarley Graham was dismissed due to improper legal instructions provided by the District Attorney's Office, a second grand jury failed to bring charges after Officer Haste shot and killed an unarmed teenager inside his home.

Wrongfully imprisoned Javier Engar on murder charges for two-years despite video surveillance and DNA evidence exonerating the defendant.

The dismissal of charges against Kalief Browder, a teenager jailed for three years kept in solitary confinement and beaten by prison guards, even after the lone witness to the alleged theft of a backpack left the United States and rendered the District Attorney's Office unable to bring the case to trial.

Exit from the Bronx County District Attorney's office

As early as 2013, there were reports of an arrangement for Johnson to resign as Bronx County District Attorney in return for a seat as a New York State Supreme Court Justice in the Bronx. The plan was in coordination with then New York State Assemblyman Carl Heastie, who was also the Bronx Democratic Party leader and therefore held final say over Democratic electoral politics in the Bronx. The Bronx Democratic Party had long exerted control over Johnson. Johnson's office's failure to file paperwork allowed Heastie to make over $200,000 from the sale of a home Heastie's mother bought with funds she stole from South East Bronx Neighborhood Center’s Quality Vending Services, a not-for-profit where she worked.

Nevertheless, Johnson ran for re-election in 2015 for another term as Bronx County District Attorney, and faced no opposition in the primary elections on September 10, which he won be default. Exactly one week later, on September 17, Johnson announced that he wanted to become a state judge. The announcement was met with severe and swift criticism by good government advocates, who said it was a transparent scheme engineered by Johnson and Democratic party power brokers to make sure the party could get the replacement district attorney of their own choice, not that of the voters. After receiving the judicial nomination by the Bronx Democratic Party the following week, Johnson then announced his resignation from his district attorney position. Under New York State Law, since the primary election had already taken place, the county parties named Johnson's replacements on the ballot, bypassing the voters. The replacement on the Democratic line was Darcel Clark, and in the heavily Democratic Bronx, she won the District Attorney's office by a landslide in the general election. By participating in this arrangement, Johnson received $300,000 in pension and salary.

New York Supreme Court Justice

Johnson's term on the Supreme Court ends in 2030. However, under New York law he will have to retire no later than December 31, 2018, at the end of the calendar year during which he will reach the age of 70. He will then be eligible to continue in office on senior status, without having to be re-elected, for three two-year periods.

Personal life

Johnson previously lived in Fordham Heights. In 1994 he moved to the former house of Mario Procaccino, a candidate for Mayor of New York City, that was located in an area of the Bronx between Pelham and Pelham Bay Park. While Procaccino faced criticism for living in that area during his mayoral campaign, according to Jane Gross of The New York Times, Johnson did not face controversy for moving there since he had only token opposition during his next election campaign for district attorney.