Judge Blames Guards, Not Inmate for Prison Bus Murder
Finding a prison inmate guilty but not criminally responsible today for strangling another inmate to death on a prison bus, a Maryland judge said the prison system should have been able to prevent the murder.
Kevin Johns Jr., who was already serving time for murder, had faced a possible death sentence. But now, when it is safe to do so, he will be sent to a state psychiatric facility, reports the Baltimore Sun.
Johns had shown signs of mental illness, yet was not properly medicated, was not placed in an isolation cage and apparently may have been wearing loose restraints when he murdered Philip Parker Jr., 20, during an early-morning trip between Baltimore and Hagerstown, according to another Sun article. Plus, Harford County Circuit Judge Emory Plitt Jr. found, a guards were watching television and reading the newspaper during the trip rather than keeping a close eye on the prisoners.
“Based on the undisputed evidence presented to me during the trial, it seems to me that the death of Mr. Parker could have been avoided,” the judge said in court today.
