Ex-airman charged in beating death

[unhappycamper]

After being punched and kicked by nine gang members in an initiation ceremony on July 3, 2005, Army Sgt. Juwan Johnson sat on one of the outside benches of this pavilion just south of Hohenecken, Germany. Johnson died the next day.


Ex-airman charged in beating death
Stars and Stripes and wire reports
European edition, Sunday, February 8, 2009

NORFOLK, Va. — A former Air Force senior airman has been charged in a federal indictment with one count of second-degree murder in the 2005 beating death of Army Sgt. Juwan Johnson outside a base in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia says an indictment unsealed Friday also charges 31-year-old Rico Rodrigus Williams with three counts of tampering with a witness.

Williams was arrested Friday in Chesapeake and arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bradford Stillman in Norfolk. Stillman set a removal-detention hearing for Wednesday. The charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison upon conviction.

The indictment alleges that Williams, who according to previous court testimony was the leader of the Gangster Disciples, was among approximately 10 people who beat and kicked Johnson at a park pavilion in Hohenecken. Prosecutors in other cases have said the death was the result of a gang initiation.

According to testimony, the July 3 jumping-in ceremony began with Williams asking Johnson if he was ready for the beating, and Johnson responding "hell yeah." Williams unleashed the first punch, then the rest of the gang members joined in a six-minute beating.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60557