Inside the sanity hearing of Tech stabbing suspect

On Tuesday afternoon, Jacoby Ladarius Johnson appeared in court for the first time since the week he allegedly stabbed four women, killing one, on Louisiana Tech University campus in a brutal November attack that rocked the Tech and Ruston communities.

The baggy prison uniform accentuating his small stature and build, Johnson, 23, entered the Ruston courtroom looking reserved.

The former Tech student’s black prescription glasses were held together by tape on the left side.

Johnson reportedly broke the glasses on Nov. 18 when, in a fit of rage, he “tore up” his solitary holding cell at the Lincoln Parish Detention Center.

That day was fall quarter graduation at Tech. Five days after surviving numerous stab wounds that left her in critical condition, Tech student Dominique McKane was able to walk across the stage and receive her diploma.

Having been arrested in connection with the stabbing spree, Johnson couldn’t do the same. That’s what upset him and led to his outburst in the jail, LPDC licensed practical nurse Jennifer Plunkett testified Tuesday.

Plunkett said she visited Johnson and spoke with him every day during his initial solitary confinement, where he was placed due to the violent nature of his charges. She said the one angry outburst was the only concerning behavior he exhibited at the time.

Johnson faces one count of second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing local artist Annie Richardson to death, as well as three counts of attempted second-degree murder for stabbing and slashing McKane, former district judge Cynthia Woodard and retired educator Debby Hollimon.

Following his arrest just minutes after the Nov. 13 attack, Johnson allegedly confessed to the crime to a Tech police investigator, saying he had been under stress with school and suddenly “snapped, felt stressed and got really angry” and “wanted to attack people.”

But when two mental health experts interviewed Johnson on Dec. 22 to evaluate his mental capacity to proceed with trial, a new factor beyond angry outbursts entered play.

“He reports ongoing auditory hallucinations,” psychiatrist Dennis C. Kelly, Jr. testified Tuesday during Johnson’s sanity hearing.

Kelly and psychologist Charles Vosburg, members of Johnson’s court-appointed sanity commission, testified that Johnson told them he “hears voices” and has suffered from this condition on and off for some time.

If true, the condition could impair Johnson’s ability to assist in his defense, making him unfit to stand trial, Kelly and Vosburg said.

But ad hoc Judge ChetTraylor ruled Johnson is competent to proceed and ordered he face jury trial, saying the sanity commission’s findings weren’t conclusive.

The pair of mental health experts admitted they couldn’t tell from their initial evaluation whether Johnson truly experienced such hallucinations or was lying about them.

“So you really don’t know,” Traylor said to Kelly.

Kelly and Vosburg recommended Johnson be temporarily committed to the Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System in Jackson for further observation to discern the truth.

The two are both affiliated with the forensic hospital there.

Plunkett, meanwhile, testified that hearing voices had never come up when she routinely met with Johnson to discuss any issues he may be having at the jail.

Johnson’s attorney, Rick Candler of Ruston, argued Johnson’s suffering from hallucinations was not a new story.

He said the Louisiana Tech Police Department had received as many as 14 calls from Johnson, his roommate and his landlord throughout his college career, expressing concerns that Johnson was “hearing things.”

Apparently record of these calls were included in background information law enforcement gave to Kelly and Vosburg before they evaluated Johnson.

This appears to contradict law enforcement statements to the media in the wake of the attack that Johnson had had minimal interaction with police before the incident, and nothing that would raise concern.

When Traylor asked Kelly why Johnson never reported hallucinations to jail personnel, Kelly said he may have “said what he needed to say” to avoid receiving medication.

That indicates Johnson is mentally competent, the judge said.

“You just said he’s capable of bending his story to get what he wants,” Traylor said.

He said while the sanity commission’s report was inconclusive on Johnson’s ability to stand trial, Traylor would have to declare him unfit before committing him to a psychiatric institution, and the burden falls with the defense to prove he’s unfit.

“The mere presence of mental illness does not bar prosecution,” he said.

Pending a successful appeal or a guilty plea, Johnson will stand trial for the murder of Richardson and the attempted murder of three other victims.

A pre-trial conference has been set for March 19.