The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A CASE management hearing ahead of the murder trial of Leo Roderick Johnson has been adjourned until January 23.

Johnson is accused of killing Ericka Fowler on August 19, 2006 in front of her children.

A trial date has not been set in the longstanding matter.

The case is being heard before Supreme Court Justice Renea McKay.

As pre-trial discussions continue, the prosecution and lawyers for the accused were given time to negotiate outstanding issues between them.

Fowler was a 33-year-old librarian and archivist at The Tribune when she was fatally stabbed, dying from injuries in the street in front of her Comet Terrace home on Golden Gates.

Police said Fowler and a man argued in front of her home. She was attacked with a sharp object which police believe to be a knife.

Police found her with wounds about her body and several gashes to her throat.

After the incident, a man fled the area in a black Nissan Sentra. Four of her five children along with her mother reportedly witnessed the crime.

Johnson was charged with murder on August 24, 2006. The case was dormant until 2014 when a trial date was set for October 24, 2016 before then-Senior Justice Jon Isaacs.

Former Chief Justice Stephen Isaacs, now deceased, later took over the case.

In October 2016, Johnson tried permanently staying proceedings because of the ten year delay bringing the case forward, arguing his constitutional right to a trial within a reasonable time was breached.

Justice Isaacs eventually ruled that “on a balance of probabilities, a fair trial can be had despite the delay and breach of the applicant’s constitutional right to a trial within a reasonable time.”

Johnson is accused of killing Ericka Fowler on August 19, 2006 in front of her children.

A trial date has not been set in the longstanding matter.

The case is being heard before Supreme Court Justice Renea McKay.

As pre-trial discussions continue, the prosecution and lawyers for the accused were given time to negotiate outstanding issues between them.

Fowler was a 33-year-old librarian and archivist at The Tribune when she was fatally stabbed, dying from injuries in the street in front of her Comet Terrace home on Golden Gates.

Police said Fowler and a man argued in front of her home. She was attacked with a sharp object which police believe to be a knife.

Police found her with wounds about her body and several gashes to her throat.

After the incident, a man fled the area in a black Nissan Sentra. Four of her five children along with her mother reportedly witnessed the crime.

Johnson was charged with murder on August 24, 2006. The case was dormant until 2014 when a trial date was set for October 24, 2016 before then-Senior Justice Jon Isaacs.

Former Chief Justice Stephen Isaacs, now deceased, later took over the case.

In October 2016, Johnson tried permanently staying proceedings because of the ten year delay bringing the case forward, arguing his constitutional right to a trial within a reasonable time was breached.

Justice Isaacs eventually ruled that “on a balance of probabilities, a fair trial can be had despite the delay and breach of the applicant’s constitutional right to a trial within a reasonable time.”