Eight Years Ago, He Was Acquitted of Killing Phylicia Barnes; A Baltimore County Jury Just Found Him Guilty of Rape, Assault in New Case

A Baltimore County jury on Friday found Michael Johnson guilty of two counts of first-degree rape and one count of first-degree assault, capping a trial marked by starkly conflicting accounts of a violent encounter between the 42-year-old and his then-girlfriend.

The jury acquitted Johnson of attempted first-degree and second-degree murder.

The verdict came a few minutes after 7 p.m. after the jury had deliberated for more than four hours and just as the judge was preparing to release them for the weekend.

Johnson, who has been jailed since his arrest July 1, 2024, showed no visible expression as the verdict was read. 

Prosecutors had argued Johnson, of York, Pa., attacked the young woman over the course of several hours in her Rosedale apartment, repeatedly choking her to the point of unconsciousness and sexually assaulting her.

Johnson’s conviction marks a victory not only for the victim, her family, and prosecutors in this case, but for the family and supporters of Phylicia Barnes, a 16-year-old North Carolina girl who was murdered in Baltimore City in 2010. Johnson was the primary suspect in that case and was charged in her murder. He stood trial three times in a legal ordeal that spanned years and ultimately was acquitted in 2018.

Investigators at the time said they believed Barnes likely succumbed to strangulation following a sexual assault. 

Several of Barnes' family members and supporters were present for testimony and the verdict at the Baltimore County trial.

Jurors in the new Baltimore County case were not told of Johnson’s past charges and were told to not research the case. 

The woman in the new case testified in detail about the July 1, 2024, attack, describing repeated strangulations with brief breaks in between. She said Johnson would choke her until she urinated on herself. Then, she said, he’d resume his attack. 

The now-21-year-old victim testified for hours Tuesday telling jurors how she tried to fight off Johnson, banging on the floor to get her neighbor’s attention. Eventually, she said, she became exhausted and stopped fighting so he would stop choking her.

“He was just playing with me,” she testified Tuesday. “He just wanted me to be tortured. That’s what I felt like, because he was not trying to end it.”

The young woman, who was in foster care and living in a state-provided apartment at the time, called and texted her social worker the afternoon after the assault.

Jurors heard medical testimony documenting her numerous injuries, including bruising, burst blood vessels in both eyes, and a bruised and badly swollen tongue. 

The victim said she had put her tongue between her teeth in an effort to breathe during the attack. At trial, prosecutors played police body camera video showing the young woman unsteady on her feet, her face massively swollen. She could barely talk when officers arrived, and resorted to answering their questions in writing or by texting.

“I woke up and looked at my face in the mirror,” she said. “I didn’t recognize myself.”

Jurors did not see a different clip of police body camera footage showing Johnson admitting to choking the young woman, saying she’d hit him first and injured his nose. The prosecution team opted not to introduce the clip after Judge Jan Alexander ruled that both the incriminating portion of the video as well as Johnson's explanation would have to be played to jurors.

Defense attorneys at closings challenged the woman’s credibility, pointing out several inconsistencies in her narrative. They argued that DNA matching Johnson was from consensual sex and said the incident was a domestic assault but not attempted murder or rape.

In Maryland, a conviction for two counts of first-degree rape and one count of first-degree assault carries severe penalties. Each rape count is punishable by up to life in prison, while first-degree assault carries up to 25 years. If a judge orders the sentences to run consecutively, a defendant could face multiple life terms plus additional years. The actual sentence depends on factors like criminal history, the specifics of the offense, and whether the sentences are imposed concurrently or consecutively.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 22.