Paul Johnson was sentenced to eight years in prison Friday for his involvement in the 2007 shooting death of Gregory Edwards.
Johnson pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed in October. The eight-year sentence was agreed upon by attorneys and approved by Judge Ronna Beck Friday.
Beck acknowledged that the sentence didn’t equate with the crime, but accepted the plea because government prosecutors had experienced issues bringing a case against Johnson.
At sentencing, prosecutors admitted that the case against Johnson was “weak” due to what they said were actions taken by Johnson to cover up his involvement.
According to the government’s proffer of facts, in the early morning hours of March 14, 2007, Edwards approached Johnson and a group of people in the 1400 block of Congress Place Southeast and asked them if they wanted to purchase marijuana.
Everyone in the group declined, but after Edwards walked away, Johnson told the others that he was out of money and was going to rob Edwards of the marijuana, the documents say.
Johnson then followed Edwards into an alley and minutes later witnesses heard gunshots, according to the documents. A witness then saw Johnson hand a package to another person who ran away.
Plea documents have been added to this post.
