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| Trial for escapee begins |
| By canoncitydailyrecord.com |
| Published: 06/28/2011 |
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Man charged with walking away from facility in 1975 A trial began Monday in the case of a man charged with escaping from the Department of Corrections. Robert Charles Johnson, 60, who had been convicted of second-degree murder in 1973, walked away from what is now Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility in 1975. He was arrested in Nevada in 2007 while living under the name Robert Neal Fargo. The jury, consisting of five men and seven women, heard opening arguments from Deputy District Attorney Michael Pirraglia and public defender Aaron Gaddis, as well as testimony from three witnesses before the court broke for the day. Testimony is set to continue at 9 a.m. today. “This defendant knew he was not entitled to not be in the Department of Corrections,” Pirraglia said. “The state wants you to believe this is a simple, clear, straightforward case,” Gaddis said. “This is anything but simple.” He said in 1981 the state had dismissed the warrant for Johnson and that he had been arrested in California in 1990. William Flint, an investigator for the Office of the Inspector General, DOC, testified about his investigation of Johnson, which he was assigned in 2001. He said at the time, he found the warrant for Johnson’s arrest was still active and then in 2007 identified Johnson living in Nevada under the name of Robert Fargo. Johnson was arrested and returned to the Denver Reception and Diagnostic Center. Flint said he interviewed Johnson there in October 2007. The jury heard the taped interview. However, the first 3 minutes of the interview were not played for the jury. During that portion of the recording Johnson said he escaped because he was being pressured to smuggle drugs into the facility and he felt his life was in danger. “I just had the opportunity,” Johnson said during the interview. “It was a real spur of the moment thing.” Read More. |
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