Man accused in officer shooting faces new trial

A Poplar Bluff man accused of shooting at officers attempting to arrest him on a federal warrant in July 2018 has been ordered to stand trial on multiple felonies.

Accompanied by his attorney, James Odell Johnson Jr. appeared Thursday before Associate Circuit Judge C. Wade Pierce for a preliminary hearing in his case.

The 30-year-old is charged with the Class A felonies of first-degree assault, three unclassified felonies of armed criminal action, the Class D felony of unlawful possession of a firearm and the Class E felony of resisting arrest. These are state charges stemming from the 2018 incident. Johnson has already been sentenced to 30 years on federal felony charges from the same incident.

Johnson filed a written waiver of preliminary hearing in his case, and after questioning from Pierce, his waiver reportedly was accepted by the court as being voluntary.

Pierce ordered Johnson bound over to Circuit Court for further proceedings in his case.

Johnson subsequently appeared by video with his attorney, Katie New with the Public Defender’s Office, before Presiding Circuit Judge Michael Pritchett on Thursday.

Johnson, according to Casenet, waived formal arraignment and pleaded not guilty to all his charges.

Pritchett ordered Johnson to appear on Nov. 17 for a review of his case.

The charges against Johnson stem from a July 19, 2018, incident in Poplar Bluff.

Johnson is accused of attempting to cause serious physical injury to Poplar Bluff Police Detective Corey Mitchell, fugitive task force officer Mike Alford and deputy U.S. Marshal Mike Miller by shooting them.

Mitchell was hit in an arm by one of the multiple shots allegedly fired by Johnson, who then barricaded himself inside a Kinzer Street apartment for about 1 1/2 hours. Bullets also struck Alford in the chest, but he was wearing a bulletproof vest, which stopped the round, and the protective shield held by Miller.

After ongoing negotiations, Johnson surrendered and was taken into custody.

The shooting and standoff occurred as officers with the U.S. Marshals Service and Poplar Bluff Police Department were serving a felony arrest warrant at an apartment, where Johnson was renting a bedroom.

Johnson also is accused of possessing a 9mm pistol and a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol, and at that time, he was a convicted felon. Johnson previously was convicted of the felony of stealing a firearm in May 2009 in Butler County.

Johnson was indicted federally in connection with the incident. He subsequently pleaded guilty and was sentenced in August to 30 years on the felonies of assaulting law enforcement officers and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Johnson also was sentenced to a consecutive two-year sentence for violating his federal supervised release.