Southfield, MI: Boyfriend guilty in Southfield woman's killing

He is to be sentenced to life next month
BY L.L. BRASIER
A jury deliberated just 90 minutes Monday before finding a Detroit man guilty of first-degree murder for shooting his former girlfriend in the head as she called 911.

Kenneth Johnson, 55, showed no reaction as the verdict was read, a verdict that will send him to prison for life. Johnson chased down and shot Sandra Bow, 52, several times in her Southfield home Sept. 7, 2009. As she clung to the phone, telling the 911 operator that she had been shot and giving the operator her address, Johnson walked up and shot her in the head.

Bow's family members wept as Johnson was led shackled from the courtroom Monday afternoon. Bow was a well-respected juvenile justice expert employed by the State of Michigan. Johnson will be sentenced to life in prison Oct. 8. Jurors also convicted him of felony murder, for stealing items from Bow's home and of possessing a firearm in the commission of a felony.

According to testimony the two had dated off and on for about a year.

During the three-day trial, Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Townsend presented a neighbor who said she heard a man yelling, a woman screaming and gunshots.

Before the closing arguments Monday, Townsend played a tape in which Bow tells the 911 operator she has been shot multiple times. Then there is more gunfire, followed by silence.

"The defendant worked hard at what he did that day," Townsend told jurors. "He worked very hard to put that final bullet in Sandra's head... give him what he deserves."

Johnson's attorney, Steven Lynch, had argued that the killing had been in a moment of passion, and that there was no premeditation.

"I'm not saying that you need to like Ken, but you need to make a decision based on law," he said. "This was an emotional argument between two people involved in a domestic relationship, a situation where emotions were obviously high."

The case was before Oakland County Circuit Judge Rudy Nichols.

Contact L.L. BRASIER: 248-858-2262 or brasier@freepress.com