Johnson’s Attorneys Granted Delay of Sentencing in Deputy’s Slaying

Denying family members and law enforcement the closure they desperately want, the sentencing of convicted killer Michael Raymond Johnson--for whom jurors recommended execution--was postponed Wednesday.

The sentencing of the Vietnam veteran, who shot Sheriff’s Deputy Peter Aguirre to death in 1996, was continued until April 27 after Johnson’s attorneys filed a last-minute motion Wednesday to delay the hearing.

Defense attorneys asked Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren for more time to respond to comments made in court documents filed Tuesday by Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Hardy.

Both sides submitted documents to the court in the last week that moved beyond legal facts to personal attacks. A portion of one document filed by Hardy was kept under seal.

But in a motion for a new trial filed last Wednesday, defense attorney Todd Howeth accused the prosecution of “a pattern of behavior . . . of making sarcastic and critical comments demeaning the defense counsel and its expert witnesses.”

Howeth pointed specifically to Hardy’s behavior during the testimony of a mental health witness, and concluded that such behavior was one of many factors that prevented his client from getting a fair trial.

“According to two jurors, during the testimony of Dr. Hinkin, Mr. Hardy would attempt to make eye contact with jurors in the box and repeatedly rolled his eyes and smirked. Such behavior is misconduct,” he wrote.

Hardy did not deny it. In his response, he wrote: “Dr. Hinkin’s effeminate mannerisms and weak testimony . . . caused the understandable reaction from the prosecution.”

The open antagonism between attorneys became so inflammatory in court Wednesday that Perren implored them to forget their hostility and focus on the task at hand.

“This case is about a terrible crime and a terrible loss,” Perren said. “It is about Michael Raymond Johnson and the death of Peter Aguirre. There is animus between counsel. That’s no secret. I regret that. But to the best of my ability I want to do what is just as to what Michael Johnson is convicted of.”

Hardy urged Perren not to delay the sentencing.

“We’ve got people out here whose hearts are getting torn apart, waiting for this to be over,” Hardy told the judge.

But Perren reluctantly granted the defense’s request, apologizing to family members, law enforcement officials and former jurors gathered in the courtroom.

“To all of you who are here today . . . I abhor it. But there is no alternative but to grant it. And I do grant it,” Perren said.

Following a trial so heart-wrenching that Perren had to send weeping jurors from the courtroom at one point, a jury last month recommended death for Johnson.

Some of them were crying as they did so.

Johnson, 50, was convicted of shooting Aguirre three times when the young deputy responded to a domestic disturbance call in Meiners Oaks. The final shot was fired at point-blank range before the deputy could draw his gun.

Emotions were running high even before Perren took the bench Wednesday morning.

Members of the Aguirre family sat on one side of the room. Ventura County Sheriff Larry Carpenter, dressed in uniform, and top officials from the Sheriff’s Department crowded into the front row, shaking hands and giving condolences to the Aguirre family as they walked by.

Johnson’s mother and brother sat on the opposite side of the room. Behind them were five jurors from the case.

In one exchange, Johnson’s mother, Wilma, turned to a juror and asked how he could have sentenced her son, who she says is mentally ill, to death.

Other jurors hugged the Aguirres outside the courtroom. Law enforcement officials gathered around Hardy during a break, as he angrily pointed his finger at the defense counsel.

Aguirre’s father, Peter, became overwhelmed with emotion as the session dragged on, and eventually was led, crying quietly, from the courtroom.

Out in the hall, family members sobbed and comforted each other.

“It’s almost like it’s never going to end--like it’s going to last longer and longer,” said Aguirre’s widow, Dena. “He’ll probably die of old age before he gets the death penalty.

“I don’t think anything will give this closure, until I meet [Peter] again.”