Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 13, 1994 TAG: 9407150032
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Johnson's blood-alcohol level was about 0.40. Under Virginia law at that time, a person with a level of 0.10 was considered to be too intoxicated to drive.
On Tuesday in Roanoke County Circuit Court, defense attorney Vaso Tahmin urged jurors to take this into account in deciding whether to convict Johnson of first- or second-degree murder or manslaughter.
She said Johnson had been drinking for days, and that prosecutors will not be able to show that the killing was deliberate: ``This is a matter of degrees.''
Tahmin's comments came on the first day of Johnson's murder trial, which continues today.
Johnson is accused of killing 59-year-old Ralph Dewey Day on Sept. 18.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Leach emphasized the brutality of Day's death. Johnson ``kicked him. He stomped him. He beat him,'' Leach said. The prosecutor said the violence apparently started after Day ate a tomato that Johnson wanted.
Sometime later, Vinton police came to the apartment complex to check out a complaint about suspicious characters hanging around outside Johnson's door.
Cpl. R.A. Thompson said Day's body was in a recliner chair and that there were bruises all over his body and blood coming out of his ears, nose and mouth.
knocked on the Johnson's door and asked, ``Is everything all right in there?''
He says Johnson paused for a couple seconds and then cocked his head over his shoulder and said, ``We have a dead man here in the chair.''
Thompson says Day's body was in a recliner chair, with his head drooping to one side. Day had bruises all over his body and blood was coming out of his ears, nose and mouth.
An autopsy showed that Day died of a punctured lung.
by CNB