State vs Johnson: Family, legal teams react to Johnson verdict

After a conviction of first degree murder (a class IA felony) Craig Johnson, 48 faces a guarantee of life in prison, according to Cheyenne County attorney Paul Schaub.

Following a weeklong trial in Cheyenne County district court Johnson was found guilty for the Dec. 2011 death of his girlfriend, April Smith, in her apartment eight miles west of Sidney.

Johnson was also found guilty of use of a weapon to commit a felony, (a class II felony) which come with a possibility of 50 additional years in prison and possession of a deadly weapon by a felon (a class III felony), punishable by a maximum of 20 years imprisonment. Once the verdict was read, the state dropped an additional charge of habitual criminality.

The death penalty is not a possibility in this case, according to Schaub.

While the prosecution and family of the victim were pleased with the verdict, Johnson maintains his innocence, according to defense attorney Kelly Breen.

“This man bound, strangled, beat and stabbed Ms. Smith to death,” said Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning in a press statement. “Today’s conviction ensures he is held accountable for this horrible crime.”

The Nebraska attorney general’s office prosecuted this case with assistance from Schaub.

During the trial the defense, represented by attorneys Breen and Todd Lancaster suggested that Smith was addicted to prescription drugs and this activity might have led to her murder by persons unknown. Her family took offense to these allegations.

“As far as her medication, she did her medication on a routine basis,” said Ed Smith, the victim’s husband.

April Smith had a prescription for hydrocodone, a narcotic, to ease back pain. A friend of the family, Billy Schmidt said that April Smith was a reliable person.

“That’s not a typical trait of somebody who abuses drugs,” Schmidt said.

The suggestion that April Smith was a drug addict angered Viola Bennett, the victim’s sister.

“That was the most heinous, stupid thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” Bennett said.

The defense’s claim that Smith could handle herself and that she wasn’t a “shrinking violet” also bothered Bennett. Just because you’re a big person doesn’t mean you’re able to fight off an attacker, Bennett said. Smith suffered many health problems which would limit her ability to fight, she added.

“To say that she could hold her own, that really is upsetting,” Bennett said.

Schmidt acknowledged that the defense team was just doing its job.

“There’s two sides to it, but I think he did do an adequate defense,” Schmidt said.

The family also thought that many incidences leading up to the murder in Dec. 2011 should have been included in testimony during the trial.

“There’s a lot of things I wish they would have brought up and they didn’t but I guess they were concentrating on what they needed to concentrate on,” Ed Smith said.

Multiple family members claimed that Johnson had threatened them at some point before the murder. They described a rocky relationship between Smith and Johnson. Bennett and Ed Smith both claimed that April Smith changed her locks at one point to keep Johnson out of her home.

Ed Smith acknowledged that there was a mutual dislike between himself, the husband of the victim and Johnson, April Smith’s live-in boyfriend at the time of her death.

“There was no love between me and Craig, why would there be?” Ed Smith said.

Ed Smith did agree with defense attorneys that two sock hats and a phone found in the victim’s trash following the murder should have been tested for DNA and or fingerprint evidence.

He received a text from his wife’s phone on the afternoon of Dec. 11, 2011 which he originally thought was from her. After the prosecution cast doubt on that during the trial, now he thinks it might not have been from his wife, but possibly from her killer. He is convinced the jury made the right call.

“Do I think he’s guilty?” Ed Smith asked. “In every way, shape and form, yes.”

Johnson, on the other hand, plans to file an appeal to his conviction. The appeal will have to wait until after the sentencing, Feb. 5, Breen said.

Although he acknowledged that the jury was very attentive during the trial, Breen objected to some of the evidence the court allowed to be presented to them.

“That’s why we’ll seek relief in the appellate courts,” Breen said.

The Cheyenne County attorney’s office believes the jury reached a verdict based on the evidence.

“The verdict is consistent with the facts,” Schaub said.

Schaub expressed appreciation for both the hard work of the jury and those at the Nebraska Attorney General’s office.

The week-long trial was stressful for the family of the victim.

“This has been the hardest week of my entire life,” Bennett said. “I don’t think anybody should have to go through stuff like this.”

Bennett lived with April Smith during the majority of her relationship with Johnson. Bennett wasn’t sure how she felt after hearing the verdict.

“Maybe we got closure now and he’s gonna get what he deserves,” Bennett said. “It won’t bring her back, unfortunately. But at least now he won’t be able to hurt nobody else and that’s what’s important.”

Smith sacrificed herself to save other women, Bennett said.

“It’s kind of like the end of a two year torture,” Bennett observed. “Now she can sleep.”

Bennett still feels that there is some unfinished business.

“The only thing that really gets to me about this stuff, is I wanted to hear him say that he did it,” Bennett said.

Bennett would also like to know her sister’s last words.

“People think they can get away with stuff, but finally it catches up with you,” Bennett said.