By Derrill Holly, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The killer of a Metro Transit Police officer was spared the death penalty, but will never walk the streets again.
Walter O. Johnson, 36, was sentenced Friday to life without parole for the murder of officer Marlon F. Morales. The judge also added another 100 years for other charges related to the murder, and chastised the convicted killer.
“You violated not only our laws, but also the fundamental values of our society,” said District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Ann O’Regan Keary. The judge told Johnson that his actions not only deprived Morales off a promising career, but also crushed the hopes and dreams of his family.
“He didn’t give any kind of consideration to my husband,” said Jennifer Morales, who has raised her three children alone since her husband’s death. During the sentencing hearing, she told a courtroom filled with relatives and more than a dozen uniformed transit officers that her children remain traumatized more than three years later.
“The impossible has happened to them and they’re afraid it might happen again,” Morales said.
Johnson jumped a turnstile at a Northwest Washington subway station on June 10, 2001. When Morales, 32, tried to stop him, a struggle ensued and the officer was shot in the face. He died three days later.
Johnson shot Morales less than a month after being release from a federal penitentiary at Lewisburg, Penn., where he completed a ten year sentence for robbing a Philadelphia bank.
After a seven week trial, a jury convicted Johnson of all charges, including first degree murder while armed, murder of a law enforcement officer, armed robbery and weapons violations.
“Mr. Johnson maintains his innocence and will be appealing the jury’s findings,” said public defender Renee P. Raymond.
Morales was only the second Metro Transit Police officer to die in the line of duty since the department was created in 1976. Chief Polly Hanson said the circumstances of his death remain a reminder of the risks faced by her 357 officers.
“Walter Johnson is the personification of every officer’s nightmare,” Hanson said.