By Ray King
The Arkansas Court of Appeals on Wednesday rejected claims by a man convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm that the evidence in his case was insufficient for a conviction.
Adrian Deshean Johnson, 26, also contended that a sentence enhancement he was given by a jury was improper.
Following a trial in Jefferson County Circuit Court, Johnson was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison, with an additional 12-year sentence for his use of a firearm during the commission of a crime, in this case being a felon in possession of a firearm.
During the trial, Pine Bluff Police Officer Kevin Collins testified that he and two other officers conduced a traffic stop on Johnson on De. 10, 2017. Collins said Johnson was the only occupant of the vehicle and Johnson, who was on parole, consented to a search of the vehicle.
A handgun was found under the passenger seat and Collins testified that he asked Johnson if he knew the gun was under the vehicle and Johnson said he did. Collins also testified that Johnson said he had bought the gun “off the street” and that “officers could take it with them because he did not want to go to jail.”
Also testifying was Sharonda Jackson who said Johnson was driving her car when he was stopped. She said she and Johnson had previously been in a relationship, but they had broken up in 2016. She said on the morning that Johnson was stopped, she had been in an altercation with another person and kicked that person out of her house. She later found that that person had left his gun, wrapped in a white shirt, in Jackson’s closet.
She testified that she did not want that person coming back in her house so she put the gun under the passenger seat of her car and told the person they could get it there. Jackson said she did not know if that person had retrieved the gun when Johnson asked to borrow the vehicle and said Johnson did not know the gun was in the vehicle.
When Johnson testified, he denied knowing the gun was there and said he did not tell Collins he did. He also denied making the statement that he “bought the gun off the street.”
In his appeal, Johnson contended there were insufficient “linking factors” to prove he was in possession of the gun but the Appeals Court rejected that argument because Johnson was the only person in the car. Also, Collins testimony that the gun was found under the passenger seat with socks and a brush contradicted Jackson’s testimony that the gun was wrapped in a white shirt. Collins also testified that Johnson said he knew the gun was there.
“The jury was not required to believe the defendant’s self-serving testimony that he had no knowledge that the firearm was in the vehicle,” Associate Justice N. Mark Klappenbach wrote in the court’s ruling.
