Opinion ID: 3049501
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Johnson’s Escape

Text: The Miller County jail was a small facility, and on the evening of October 2, 1994, the only deputy on duty was 76-year-old Brooks Sheffield. That evening, Johnson asked Deputy Sheffield if he could use the jail telephone. When Sheffield brought Johnson to the telephone, Johnson grabbed Sheffield’s gun, struck Sheffield in the head with the butt of the gun, and escaped the jail. The next night, Johnson was found and taken back into custody. Sheffield’s head injury required 21 staples to close, plus follow-up care. X- rays showed no skull fracture or intracranial bleeding. There were no brain contusions. The CT scan “was deemed normal for a patient in Mr. Sheffield’s age range.” About seven months later, on April 27, 1995, Sheffield suffered a stroke. 7 He died in June 1995. Upon Johnson’s recapture, he was returned to the Miller County jail, where he remained until mid-November 1994. Johnson was then transferred back to a jail annex in Dougherty County, which was a separate, renovated building across the street from the old jail’s cell blocks where Johnson was before. In January 1995, the new Dougherty County jail opened and Johnson was moved there. Johnson remained in the new Dougherty County jail until his trial ended. According to Lane’s billing records, on October 24, 1994 he met with Johnson at the Miller County jail and “discussed case, reviewed impact of escape and need for no further violations.” This meeting, together with thirty miles’ travel, took 3.2 hours. Lane later discussed the escape with an assistant district attorney. It is undisputed that Johnson never told Lane he escaped because he feared going back to the old Dougherty County jail.