The killer of a Metro Transit Police officer was sentenced yesterday to life without parole in D.C. Superior Court.
Walter O. Johnson, 36, also got another 100 years for other charges related the killing of Officer Marlon F. Morales.
“You violated not only our laws, but also the fundamental values of our society,” said Judge Ann O’Regan Keary. She told Johnson that his actions not only deprived Officer Morales of a promising career, but also crushed the hopes and dreams of his family.
“He didn’t give any kind of consideration to my husband,” said Jennifer Morales, who has raised her three children alone since her husband’s death in June 2001. During the sentencing hearing, she told a courtroom filled with relatives and more than a dozen uniformed transit officers that her children remain traumatized more than three years later.
“The impossible has happened to them and they’re afraid it might happen again,” Mrs. Morales said.
Johnson jumped a turnstile at a the U Street/Cardozo subway station in Northwest on June 10, 2001. When Officer Morales, 32, tried to stop him, a struggle ensued and the officer was shot in the face. He died three days later.
Johnson shot Officer Morales less than a month after being released from a federal penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pa., where he completed a 10-year sentence for robbing a Philadelphia bank.
After a seven-week trial, a jury convicted Johnson of all charges, including first-degree murder while armed, murder of a law enforcement officer, armed robbery and weapons violations.
“Mr. Johnson maintains his innocence and will be appealing the jury’s findings,” public defender Renee P. Raymond said.
Officer Morales was the second Metro Transit Police officer to die in the line of duty since the department was created in 1976. Chief Polly Hanson said the circumstances of his death remain a reminder of the risks faced by her 357 officers.
“Walter Johnson is the personification of every officer’s nightmare,” Chief Hanson said.
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