Appeals court partially grants appeal in Columbia 2022 shooting

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A panel of judges has ordered a Boone County circuit court to correct a judgment in a 2022 Columbia shooting case.

Terrance Johnson was found guilty by a jury in March 2024 and sentenced in April 2024 to 14 years behind bars for a 2022 shooting. He was found guilty of first-degree assault, shooting a gun at a motor vehicle/person, unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.

The Western Appellate District ruled that the court made a mistake when entering the written judgment that was different from the jury verdict and what the judge said in court.

Court documents state that the prosecution admitted to this mistake and agreed that the circuit court plainly erred in entering a written judgment that was different from the jury verdict and the court's oral pronouncement. This required the court to "correctly memorialize the verdict and pronouncement of sentence."

The panel denied Johnson on another part of the appeal after he claimed the court refused to submit to the jury his proposed defense-of-others instructions on arguments related to self-defense.

The court ruled that while his defense was that he acted in self-defense, the panel did not find any error in the circuit court's refusal to instruct the jury, as he did not introduce the argument or evidence to support a defense-of-others instruction.