A Poplar Bluff man will spend the next 35 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections after he was sentenced Tuesday for his role in a January 2020 shooting of another man.
Kayln Trasell Johnson’s sentencing by 36th Judicial Circuit Presiding Judge Michael Pritchett comes after he was found guilty Aug. 28 of assault in the first degree, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm.
“This case arose from a shooting at a residence on North Main Street in Poplar Bluff in the afternoon of Jan. 14, 2020,” said Butler County Prosecutor Kacey Proctor, who tried the case with Assistant Prosecutor Dwight Warren.
Earlier reports state Poplar Bluff police officers responded around 3:55 p.m. on that date to 1312 N. Main St. to a report of someone being shot in the head.
Upon his arrival. Police Sgt. Dusty Johnson was directed to the location of Ernest Taylor, who was found lying face down in front of the residence.
“At trial, the State called the victim in the case, who testified that the defendant, Kayln Johnson, was living with him and his girlfriend, who was the mother of Johnson,” Proctor earlier said in an earlier news release.
The victim at trial reported Johnson had returned home “and pulled out a .22 revolver and began firing at him while he was seated in a chair watching television,” Proctor earlier said.
The victim reportedly was struck six times, including once in the back of the head.
Johnson testified at his trial “he shot the victim six times because the victim was trying to attack him,’ Proctor earlier said. Johnson also admitted the victim was unarmed.
Johnson’s sentence includes 25 years on the first-degree assault charge, 10 years on the armed criminal action charge, to be served consecutively, and 10 years on the unlawful possession of a firearm, to be served concurrently with the others.
The defendant, Proctor said, must serve at least 85% of his sentence.