Columbia man found guilty on all counts of rape, sodomy

JoAnthony Johnson was found guilty Friday of sodomy, rape and attempted sexual assault that involved four women over the course of several months in 2015 and 2016. The jury deliberated for about three hours before returning the verdicts. Three of those women testified during the trial.

ABC 17 News was in the courtroom when the jury found Johnson guilty for drugging and raping multiple women in 2015.

Charges include two counts of first-degree sodomy, two counts of first-degree rape and one count of attempted sexual abuse. The rape and sodomy charges carry the potential of life sentences.

Johnson also recorded the assaults on his phone and those videos were introduced as evidence during the five-day trial.

“I think certainly the cellphone evidence depicting the crimes was critical in this case,” said Prosecuting Attorney Dan Knight. “That proved that the victims didn’t have the capacity to consent and proved the defendant knew they couldn’t consent.”

Johnson’s public defender Sarah Aplin worked to prove this week that Johnson had no idea how incapacitated the women were and that the sex between them was consensual.

“You can’t tell how intoxicated someone is by looking at them,” she said during closing statements.

Aplin said the videos Johnson recorded were disrespectful and a “gross” thing to do, but they did not depict rape. She cast doubt on the victim’s abilities to remember what happened when they testified.

“Lack of memory does not mean lack of consent,” she said.

Aplin said the state wanted the jury to believe that Johnson was a “criminal mastermind” for committing these crimes but she said Friday that if he is, then he’s “the dumbest criminal mastermind” because he did not attempt to destroy evidence in 2015 that could incriminate him.

After the verdict, Aplin said she respected the jury’s decision but didn’t have an immediate comment.

Knight said in an interview post-verdict that he proved this week Johnson is a “serial rapist” and a “psychopath.” He said he believes there are more victims who have not yet come forward.

“I encourage any other victims of JoAnthony Johnson to come forward,” he said. “We still have an opportunity to get justice for those people as well as the victims in this case.”

The sentencing hearing for Johnson will most likely take place in June and could take up to two days, especially if the continuing investigation reveals more victims.

Knight said Friday he did not know what sentence he will recommend, but anticipated it will be “a very large number” for all counts.

He also said he was impressed by the “courage” it took for the victims to come forward in this case and said their testimony this week was key.