DA not using police questioning of homicide suspect

Ed Lewis, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
·2 min read

Jul. 5—WILKES-BARRE — Any statements Jayshawn Johnson gave to detectives about a shooting that left two men dead and another man permanently injured outside a lounge on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre are out.

Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce and First Assistant District Attorney Tony Ross elected not to contest a motion filed by Johnson's attorney, David V. Lampman II, seeking to prohibit Johnson's interview with detectives held March 23, 2021.

Lampman argued in his motion detectives began questioning Johnson about the double fatal shooting without reading him his Miranda rights and continued to ask questions despite several requests by Johnson asking for an attorney.

During a pre-trial hearing held before Judge David W. Lupas on Tuesday, Sanguedolce said the police interview and Johnson's responses did not produce anything of "evidentiary value," noting Johnson was given his Miranda rights when he was captured by the United States Marshals Fugitive Task Force in Miami, Fla., on Feb. 20, 2021.

Johnson was arrested on charges he fatally shot Damian Thomas, 32, and Maurice Chapman, 31, both of Wilkes-Barre, and injuring Quan Cade Jr., outside Bo's on Main on Jan. 30, 2021. Cade lost sight in his right eye from the shooting.

Johnson's trial is scheduled to begin July 18.

In Lampman's motion to preclude Johnson's statements, detectives asked Johnson about the lounge shooting, his street name Times Too, why Johnson deactivated his Facebook account the same day of the lounge shooting, his affiliation to any street gangs and a fatal shooting at the Holiday Inn East Mountain in Plains Township on Nov. 11, 2020.

Throughout the interview, Johnson responded to several questions, remained silent on others and asked for a lawyer several times.

Lupas granted Lampman's motion precluding any of Johnson's statements during the police interview as being uncontested by prosecutors.

In a related issue, Lupas will preside over another pre-trial hearing Friday on Lampman's motion to suppress alleged evidence seized by detectives during an execution of a search warrant at an apartment at Sherman Hills in Wilkes-Barre.

Lampman alleges Johnson was misidentified by a police detective reviewing surveillance footage inside Bo's on Main and inside the apartment building and believes the search warrant for the Sherman Hills apartment contained "deliberate and knowing misstatements."

Court records say a surveillance camera inside the lounge clearly shows Johnson's face but a surveillance camera at the Sherman Hills apartment, according to Lampman's motion, recorded a man wearing a dark hat and sunglasses.