A jury convicted an Amboy woman late Friday of vehicular assault and other felony charges for a June 10, 2013, car crash that led to the amputation of a Battle Ground teenager’s leg.
Shaun Johnson, 48, showed little emotion as Clark County Superior Court Judge David Gregerson called out “guilty” to charges of vehicular assault, methamphetamine possession and bail jumping. The jury also voted for a special verdict attached to the vehicular assault charge.
While driving under the influence of meth, Johnson struck and seriously injured Justin Carey, then 16, as he waited for a school bus. Carey had to have his right leg amputated at the knee as a result of his injuries.
The jury deliberated for about two hours before returning unanimous guilty verdicts.
On Friday, Carey, now 18, and his family rose and held hands as the jury entered the courtroom to deliver its verdict. Family members burst into tears and offered hugs all around as the judge read the decision.
Johnson was taken into custody immediately following the verdict. She is next scheduled to appear in court May 13. Her defense attorney, Shon Bogar, declined to comment after the trial.
Carey said he’s glad the case is over and that he wasn’t surprised by the jury’s verdict.
“(Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu) is awesome. He got his points across very good,” he said. “I hope it was not a sympathy thing for the jury. I hope they did it off the facts and not because they felt sorry for me.”
Carey added that he doesn’t hold a grudge against Johnson.
“I just have to keep moving on,” he said. “Losing my leg did change my life but, on some things, for the better. It’s closed many doors but opened many doors.”
On the morning of the crash, Johnson was driving south on Northeast 82nd Avenue toward her workplace shortly after 7 a.m. when she dropped a lit cigarette onto the floor and removed her seat belt to bend down and retrieve it, Johnson said. Her 2006 Nissan Altima veered off the road south of Northeast 289th Street and struck Carey, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Superior Court.
The impact flung Carey about 80 feet into nearby bushes. Both of his legs were fractured, and an artery in his right leg was severed.
Emergency personnel treated Johnson at the scene for a broken arm. She didn’t mention that she had hit anyone with her car, and first responders didn’t see Carey because he was concealed by the bushes. A tow truck driver found him more than 90 minutes later, court documents said.
Johnson told police she didn’t know she had struck Carey, according to the affidavit.
While paramedics treated Johnson, sheriff’s Deputy Tim Gosch retrieved her driver’s license from her purse to help fill out a collision report and found two small bags of methamphetamine, court records said.
Carey’s mother, Janette Chumley, said after the trial that her family finally has closure.
“Even though we have already moved on with our lives, we are closing this chapter,” she said. “It really doesn’t change anything for us. But at least she’s being held accountable.”
Carey’s father, Jim, agreed.
“Justice is done. Now, hopefully, the full sentence catches up with her,” he said. “I’m glad it’s over, though, and not this two-year pending case anymore.”
During closing arguments earlier in the day, the prosecution said the lead deputy on the case did not find a cigarette butt or burn marks on the floor of Johnson’s car.
Vu told the jury Johnson had admitted to law enforcement that she is an addict and had used the drug two days before the crash.
He said a detective interviewed her at the hospital and picked up on clues that she was under the influence. Her behavior was not what would be expected of someone taking two pain medications, which she received at the hospital. She was alert and her vital signs were not indicative of someone on pain medication, Vu said.
“There were conflicting and antagonistic things going on in her body,” he said.
Vu also said that a witness, who was first to arrive at the crash, later told police Johnson displayed behavior, such as agitation and erratic speech, which indicated to her possible meth use.
Johnson’s blood later tested positive for methamphetamine.
“She made the choice to get behind the wheel of her car after consuming methamphetamine. She was impaired,” Vu said. “She also made some poor choices in obviously possessing methamphetamine and failing to appear.
“In the words of Robert Louis Stevenson, everybody, everywhere, sits down to a banquet of consequences,” he said.
The defense argued that despite finding the bags, Gosch didn’t arrest Johnson, and it didn’t become a criminal case until after Carey was discovered. Bogar asked why no paramedics mentioned that they believed Johnson was under the influence while they treated her injuries.
“As human beings, this is a tough case to hear. As humans, we are endowed with passion, empathy and sympathy,” he said. “This is a court of law. The other part of humanity is reason, logic. We must not let emotions overcome rational thought process.”
Bogar said that the detective who specializes in drug detection and interviewed Johnson didn’t conclude she was under the influence of meth at the time. He also argued the detective failed to follow protocol when he didn’t conduct a full, 12-step drug evaluation on her.
Bogar concluded that there’s no way to know what was in Johnson’s system at the time of the crash because a sample of her blood wasn’t drawn for testing until nearly seven hours later. The date on the sample was also mislabeled.
Johnson did not testify during the trial. Bogar said it was because she was already forthcoming with police. “Her side of the story was out, and they knew it but they didn’t listen to it,” he said.
The authorities and prosecution had already made up their minds about what happened before the investigation concluded and were not open to other possibilities, Bogar argued.
