Guilty verdict in Largo shooting death by man pretending to deliver package
On a Monday morning just over two years ago, Jason Johnson and his fiancé were in bed in their home at the Four Lakes at Clearwater apartments when they heard a knock on their front door.
Johnson, 36, got out of bed to see who was there. His fiancé followed not far behind.
They didn’t recognize the man at the door. Police later identified him as Arthur Scott of Fort Lauderdale.
Scott was wearing a surgical mask and carrying a package. He said he was there to deliver the package to Johnson and asked him to confirm his identity. When Johnson did so, Scott shot and killed him, according to court records.
Late last month, a jury found Scott, 35, guilty of first-degree murder in Johnson’s death. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Prosecutors and police said Scott knew Johnson’s ex-wife and told his brother in jail calls that the ex-wife had a life insurance policy on Johnson. Scott said the woman had offered him part of the life insurance policy if he killed Johnson, according to police.
While authorities confirmed that the ex-wife collected a $50,000 life insurance policy upon Johnson’s death, they said she is not facing criminal charges and that she cooperated with police. Police said the ex-wife appeared shocked when she learned about Scott’s involvement and she denied any involvement with the murder, police said.
Detectives with the Largo Police Department canvassed the area after the shooting and collected video surveillance from a pool store near Johnson’s apartment complex, which is located on 142nd Avenue just off U.S. 19. The footage showed a 2016 white Kia Cadenza with unique front bumper damage leaving the area around the time of the shooting. A witness from the apartment complex said the car appeared to be the same vehicle he saw being driven from the scene just moments after the shooting.
Police found that the vehicle was registered to Scott. They placed his picture in a photo pack and Johnson’s fiancé identified him as the shooter.
Scott denied being at the shooting, but Largo police said they found driving instructions from Miami to Largo in his home. They also found a gun in his home that was determined to be the murder weapon, said Largo police Sgt. Shawn Cheney, the lead detective.
Scott’s attorney, Daniel Hernandez, didn’t respond to messages seeking comment that were left with his office.
“The jury got it right,” said Nash Licona, an assistant state attorney who prosecuted the case with executive assistant state attorney Christie Ellis. “But that’s not enough to offset the pain that the family has had to go through.”
Said Cheney: “At the end of the day, there’s basically two fathers who were taken from four different children, one being deceased, and the other going to life in prison. So it was a kind of bittersweet ending for the whole thing.”
