Suspect defends himself at rape, sodomy trial

Joanthony Johnson said the sex he had with four women that landed him in the Boone County Jail was consensual.

Johnson, 28, took the stand today in his own defense in the rape and sodomy trial against him. Columbia police believe Johnson drugged several women at his apartment in 2015 and 2016, brought them into his bedroom and had sex with them while they were incapacitated.

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 to potential of life sentences.

Johnson’s attorney, assistant public defender Sarah Aplin, and Boone County prosecutor Dan Knight questioned the defendant for four hours, dissecting his explanation of the nights that four women either didn’t remember or had fleeting memories of a drug-fueled night. Johnson admitted to having sex with all four women at his apartment after meeting them at bars in downtown Columbia, but denied that any of the women were unconscious or that they told him not to have sex with them.

In discussing one of the instances, Johnson said the woman’s desire to have sex was “implied” with her behavior.

“Made out with her, we were kissing in the bed after I had woke up,” Johnson said.

Johnson said in another case, he went back to his apartment with a girl he met at Roxy’s. When they returned, they went straight to his bedroom and had sex.

“Did you ever think that that was not consensual?” Aplin asked.

“No,” he replied.

“Did you have any reason to think that she couldn’t consent?”

“No.”

Knight cross examined Johnson for several hours, focusing on videos Johnson took of the sexual encounters. Those videos were played for the jury, but turned away from the rest of the courtroom. Knight pointed out the silence of the women in them, moving very little. While Johnson said he took those videos, he rejected Knight’s assertions that he forced the women into bed with him.

Many of the victims have testified this week at trial about their encounters with Johnson. One women said yesterday she remembered taking high-concentrated THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, with Johnson at his apartment, and feeling unable to control her muscles. Later that night, Johnson had moved her from the bathroom to the bedroom, which was one of the last things she remembered that night.

Johnson’s attempted sexual abuse charge stems from a September incident with a woman that he claimed he was trying to help. Johnson explained he met with alleged victim while out at a bar, and on the way back to his apartment, she threw up on herself. Medics would eventually have to take her out of the apartment due to her intoxication, later finding a mixture of drugs in her blood. Johnson said the two did do what he thought was just cocaine, but was later found to be a mixture of cocaine and concentrated psilocybin.

A video CPD obtained from Johnson’s phone would bring the other victims into the case they made against him in February 2016. Officers arrested Johnson at his District Flats apartment after a reported sexual assault of a 17-year-old that went back to Johnson’s apartment after sneaking into a bar. CPD took videos from Johnson’s phone in October, showing “numerous videos” of “incapacitated women being subjected to sexual acts,” according to a probable cause statement.

Closing arguments in the case are expected to start at 10 a.m. Friday.