10:52 PM, Dec. 1, 2011
Jameel Rabb's felonious assault case ended in a Thursday mistrial - after the man he was accused of shooting in June died in the middle of the trial.
"This is the first time I can ever recall that happening," Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Steve Martin said Thursday in declaring the mistrial.
Rabb, 25, of Avondale, was accused of going June 22 to the College Hill home of former girlfriend Christal Johnson and demanding the keys to her car. She refused and he is accused of assaulting her.
Johnson's brother, Arthur Johnson, soon showed up at his sister's home but was confronted outside by Rabb, who police say shot Arthur Johnson in the neck and ran.
"Quite frankly, it's a miracle" that Johnson lived for more than five months after being shot, Assistant Prosecutor Rick Gibson said Thursday.
"He didn't have a pulse at the scene. ... He was on life support and we were told death was imminent."
Despite that dire prognosis, Arthur Johnson recovered enough to be moved from University Hospital to Drake Hospital and then to a nursing home, having to be hospitalized at times for infections, Gibson said.
"He was paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe on his own," Gibson said.
Rabb's trial started Monday. On Tuesday, the trial broke for the day with a witness on the stand. Johnson died Tuesday night. When the trial resumed Wednesday, Gibson and Rodney Harris, Rabb's attorney, asked for a delay until Thursday to review the issue, both suggesting a mistrial was likely.
When court resumed Thursday, Martin granted the mistrial.
Now, Gibson said prosecutors are awaiting the results of Thursday's autopsy to determine if Johnson's death was the result of the June shooting. It will take "two to three weeks" to get those results, Gibson said.
If Johnson's death stems from the June shooting, Gibson will seek murder charges. If it's not - which would shock Gibson - the original felonious charges would be re-indicted.
The original charges against Rabb carried a prison sentence of about 25 years. A murder conviction can result in a sentence of life in prison.
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