Grant Johnson was found guilty Thursday of first-degree premeditated murder while armed, second-degree murder while armed, armed robbery and related weapons offenses in connection with the shooting death of 32-year-old Ricardo Mandrell Lancaster.
Jurors in the case delivered their verdict around 11:25 a.m. Thursday after deliberating for approximately two and a half days.
Lancaster was found by police on May 31, 2012 around 6:53 a.m. in the driver’s seat of an SUV parked on the 800 block of Burns Street Southeast dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Almost a month later Johnson, 37, was arrested and charged with first-degree felony murder while armed, first-degree premeditated murder while armed, armed robbery, and related weapons offenses in connection with Lancaster‘s death.
Prosecutors alleged that Johnson shot and killed his best friend’s younger brother for several hundreds of dollars. But Johnson’s defense attorneys argued that the government’s case was weak and circumstantial with no eye-witnesses.
The case is scheduled for sentencing on February 21, 2014 with Judge Herbert Dixon.
