P. v. Johnson
Defendant Arliton Johnson shot and killed Tyrone Lyles and wounded Daryl Mitchell with a .9-milimeter gun on June 8, 2007. Four days later, while still in the hospital, Mitchell gave police a statement and identified defendant as the shooter. When police went to arrest defendant on June 14, 2007, he ran. The police gave chase and caught him. A loaded 45-caliber pistol dropped out of defendant’s pants while he fought with a police officer. A loaded 9-milimeter semiautomatic pistol was found in defendant’s left front pants pocket after he was subdued. At trial in 2010, Mitchell recanted his identification. A jury convicted defendant of murder and illegal possession of a firearm by an ex-felon, but deadlocked on the attempted murder of Mitchell.
On appeal, defendant argues the trial court should have bifurcated or severed trial on the gun possession charge from trial on the murder and attempted murder charges. He also argues the trial court violated his constitutional rights by limiting his cross-examination of the ballistics expert, and erroneously instructed and failed to instruct the jury in several respects. He argues prejudice from cumulative error warrants reversal. We find that bifurcation of the gun charge was not an option and severance was not required, and that the court did not abuse its discretion in limiting defendant’s voir dire of the ballistics expert. We also find no instructional or cumulative error. Therefore, we shall affirm.
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