By Jeff Lehr
Globe Staff Writer
JOPLIN, Mo. —
To avoid the possibility of another death sentence at his third trial this summer, Gary W. Black this week sought and obtained a plea bargain that will keep him locked up for the rest of his life for the 1998 stabbing death of Jason Johnson.
Black, 54, entered an Alford plea Wednesday in Jasper County Circuit Court to the first-degree murder charge he has been facing for 12 years.
Black was twice convicted of the charge and twice sentenced to die by Jasper County juries. Both convictions were overturned by the Missouri Supreme Court, and a third capital-murder trial was set to begin in late July, with selection of jurors from Cass County.
Jasper County Prosecutor Dean Dankelson said Black’s attorney, William Fleischaker, approached Dankelson’s office Tuesday about a possible plea agreement. The prosecutor’s office agreed to take the death penalty off the table in exchange for Black’s plea and a life sentence without any chance of parole.
Family apprised
Dankelson said the plea offer was made with the knowledge of Johnson’s family members, who live in the St. Louis area.
“This ends the case for Jason’s family,” Dankelson said. “It guarantees that the defendant will be in prison for the rest of his life and finally allows the victim’s family to close this chapter of their lives.”
Dankelson said Black never previously sought a plea bargain, and the prosecutor’s office never previously offered one.
Black entered his plea change at a hearing Wednesday morning in the Carthage courthouse and not in Joplin, where most of the case’s proceedings have taken place over the years. The hearing had not been scheduled, and no reporters were present.
Circuit Judge David Mouton, who has presided over the case since the Missouri Supreme Court’s overturning of Black’s second conviction, reportedly conducted the hearing on the plea agreement between probate court cases he was scheduled to hear in Carthage.
Black waived his right to a sentencing-assessment report as part of the agreement, and the judge imposed the life term without parole.
The defendant made no statements at the hearing concerning why he changed his plea, according to both Fleischaker and Dankelson. Fleischaker said he could not discuss his client’s reasons for the Alford plea, which admits no guilt but acknowledges that there is sufficient evidence to make a conviction likely if the case were to go to trial.
Black crossed out the word “guilty” and wrote in “no contest” on the petition to enter the plea that was made part of the court record Wednesday. Missouri law does not allow for pleas of “no contest” but does recognize Alford pleas, which are based on a criminal court case out of North Carolina.
Previous testimony
Testimony at Black’s first two trials showed that Johnson, a 28-year-old college student, brushed up against Black’s then-girlfriend on Oct. 2, 1998, in a convenience store on East Fourth Street in Joplin. Black, who was waiting for the girlfriend outside the store, became enraged, and they followed the truck in which Johnson was riding to the downtown intersection of Fifth Street and Joplin Avenue, where Johnson was stabbed in the neck.
The case had racial overtones; Johnson was black and the accused is white.
A long-standing issue has been whether the facts of the case warranted the state charging Black with first-degree murder and seeking the death penalty. In overturning his first conviction, the state’s high court quoted Judge Michael Wolff’s opinion that the facts of the case did not merit a first-degree murder charge.
Fleischaker, a former prosecutor, said that has been the contention of Black and his various attorneys from the onset.
“To me, I never saw any convincing evidence of deliberation in the state’s case,” he said. “I understand the state’s case, but this was a confrontation that wound up with one of the confronters getting stabbed, and that’s not first-degree murder.”
Dankelson said he believes Black was convicted of the correct charge and that his office properly sought the death penalty all along.
“There are 24 jurors in Jasper County who thought it was a proper death penalty case,” he said.
The prosecutor said he does not think any of those jurors should feel that their judgment has been bypassed by the outcome of the case since Black’s sentence will at least ensure that he “won’t have the opportunity to do this again.”
Black’s second conviction was overturned because then-Circuit Judge Jon Dermott had not allowed Black to act as his own attorney, a right that a U.S. Supreme Court decision had established. Black acted as his own attorney for a period of time after the decision but then asked the court a few months ago to allow Fleischaker, who had been appointed to act as his counsel on the side, to take over as primary counsel.
Back to prison
Arrangements were being made Wednesday for transporting convicted killer Gary Black back to the custody of the Missouri Department of Corrections. His plea agreement called for his transfer from the Jasper County Jail in Carthage to state custody within 72 hours.
