Johnson v. Georgia
Annotate this Case
When the police officer approached him and asked what was going on, appellant Robert Johnson stated, "She pissed me off, man." A rifle was found behind the back seat of appellant's SUV. After he was taken into custody and the interviewing officer read him his rights, appellant made other inculpatory statements, and the videotaped interview was played at trial. Appellant stated that the victim had picked at him all his life, that nothing he accomplished was ever good enough for her, and that on the morning of the shooting she had been calling him names. Appellant stated that when she started gathering her clothes to leave, he grabbed her by the neck and shook her. He admitted that upon hearing the victim claim she had called the police, he retrieved the rifle to scare her. He admitted he told her "I'm going to give you something to call the police for," and he claimed that as he went around the side of the van toward the victim [his wife], he stumbled and the gun "just went off." The victim died from a gunshot wound to her upper right chest. Appellant appealed his conviction and sentencing to life imprisonment for the felony murder of his wife. But finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.