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Provo • A 38-year-old man who has been convicted of raping a teenager in Washington and still faces 20 new child sex abuse counts in Utah County was released from custody Thursday.
Utah 4th District Judge James Taylor said he has no legal basis to hold Lonnie Hyrum Johnson. The judge had previously found Johnson was incompetent to stand trial, with no likelihood of restoration, based on doctors' reports.
Last week, a different judge declined to impose a civil commitment, saying he found Johnson wasn't a danger to the community.
Deputy Utah County Attorney Craig Johnson has said he believes the defendant is a threat to society. But following Thursday's hearing, the prosecutor said intense media interest in the case could help mitigate that.
"I feel there's been enough coverage that I suspect people will have their eye on him," he said.
The coverage includes a Tuesday broadcast of "Nancy Grace" in which watchers were encouraged to call Taylor. Court spokeswoman Nancy Volmer said the show resulted in 100 voice messages from people in 20 states. No one uttered threats, but Volmer characterized the calls as "harassing."
The prosecutor said that, although Taylor and others followed the letter of the law, the case highlights a serious loophole.
Gov. Gary Herbert issued a news release saying he was "outraged" that Johnson was being released without a trial.
"That is not justice," the governor said. "When it comes to the safety of our children, there is no margin for legal contortions or equivocation. We owe it to our children to make sure it never happens again. It's outrageous for both the victims and the accused that Mr. Johnson won't get his day in court."
Although Johnson is free, Taylor ordered him back to court later this year for another review of his mental status.
Taylor — on his own motion — scheduled a Nov. 17 hearing and said he will appoint two new doctors to evaluate the defendant prior to it. The judge ordered Johnson to make himself available to those doctors.
The judge is also considering a motion filed by prosecutors asking him to reopen the competency issue based on new information from the defendant's treating physician at Utah State Hospital.
Craig Johnson, no relation to the defendant, filed an affidavit from psychiatrist Peter Heinbecker, who reports "inconsistencies" between the defendant's "behavioral and cognitive functioning."
Heinbecker cited examples of Lonnie Johnson's ability to meet job goals, interact with others and teach himself to use different hobby tools and learn new techniques by reading manuals.
Also, Johnson, who works in the forensics canteen, "does a great job cooking ... and cooks multiple orders at once," Heinbecker said.
Heinbecker contrasted Johnson's on-the-job abilities with his behavior during group-therapy sessions, where he "struggles to show good participation. He rarely tracks the discussions and does not provide comment or insight."
During last week's civil-commitment hearing, the prosecutor presented evidence of Johnson's 2006 conviction in Washington state for the rape of a 17-year-old girl, as well as information on pending charges that he sexually abused two Utah County girls in a five-year period beginning in 2001.
But Craig Johnson said his arguments were trumped by the testimony of three psychiatrists, who claimed Lonnie Johnson isn't a danger to himself or others.
The prosecutor has said that one problem with the current civil-commitment statute is that "substantial danger" refers to the risk of causing "serious bodily injury," which is defined in terms of death, extreme physical pain and disfigurement. The statute doesn't address sex-related crimes or the "serious emotional distress" suffered by sex-crime victims, the prosecutor said.
The defendant has been diagnosed with "cognitive disorder," but Cheri Johnson, the defendant's estranged wife and the mother of an alleged sex-abuse victim, has said he is dyslexic but otherwise functions normally.
Christy Danner, the mother of Lonnie Johnson's other alleged victim, said after Thursday's hearing, "We're not happy, but we've just begun to fight."
Danner hopes to close the legal gap that freed Johnson by effecting legislative changes to the law.
In March 2007, Johnson was charged with 21 first-degree felony crimes, ranging from child rape and sodomy upon a child to aggravated sexual abuse of a child. Twenty counts were bound over for trial following a preliminary hearing. Johnson was ordered to the state hospital for treatment in July 2008.