Judge Dismisses Indictment in Phylicia Barnes Case: Reports

A judge has upheld his decision to free the man previously found guilty in the murder of North Carolina teen Phylicia Barnes, who disappeared three days after Christmas 2010 while visiting her half-sister in Baltimore. Her body was found in the Susquehanna River north of Havre de Grace in April 2011.

Michael Maurice Johnson, 31, of the 600 block of Cooks Lane, was indicted on a first-degree murder charge in April 2012. Jurors found Johnson guilty of second-degree murder in February 2013.

Then, a Baltimore City judge acquitted Johnson in January following two mistrials.

When the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office attempted to indict him for a third trial, Judge John Addison Howard ruled in favor of Johnson’s attorneys, who asked that the indictment be dismissed, The Baltimore Sun reports.

Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said that she plans to appeal the decision.

“We will keep fighting for justice to be conducted in the manner required under the law,” Mosby said in a statement Thursday. “Accordingly, we will be seeking an appeal, by way of the Attorney General.”

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Johnson was reportedly the last person to have seen 16-year-old Barnes alive and was dating her half-sister at the time of her disappearance. Police considered him the “prime suspect” in the murder of Barnes, according to ABC 2 News.

Once charged in the murder, Johnson was incarcerated for nearly three years, until his release in late January, when Judge Howard ruled to acquit him following two mistrials, The Baltimore Sun reported.

In the first mistrial, Judge Alfred Nance overturned the 2013 guilty verdict because prosecutors withheld information about a witness.

In late 2014, Judge Howard declared a mistrial because part of a tape that was supposed to be redacted was accidentally played twice in the courtroom, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Then, in January, Howard ruled there was “no direct evidence” linking Johnson to the crime and acquitted him.

The Baltimore City state’s attorney said that she does not plan to let the verdict stand.

Said Mosby: ”It is our job to uphold the law and rectify procedural missteps.”

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