Shooting Suspect’s Attorney Wants To Avoid Adult Court

Seventeen-year-old Jeremy Johnson may stand accused of a bloody gang-related shooting, but his lawyer says he shouldn’t automatically be prosecuted as an adult.

Spokane County Public Defender Don Westerman is challenging a state law that automatically waives 16- and 17-year-olds accused of certain violent crimes into adult court.

Johnson has no record of violence and deserves a hearing to decide whether he should be treated as a juvenile, Westerman said.

“Maybe we can convince a judge to keep him in Juvenile Court,” the attorney said Thursday, after Johnson was arraigned on five counts of first-degree assault.

On Westerman’s advice, Johnson refused to enter a plea.

Superior Court Judge Michael Donohue entered not-guilty pleas for Johnson, pending a hearing and ruling on the defense motion.

The odds are against Westerman, since Donohue and other Washington judges have ruled against teenage defendants making similar appeals.

Sheriff’s deputies said Johnson was driving during the Aug. 20 attack in the Spokane Valley and admitted firing a semiautomatic handgun at five people in another car.

Three people in the car were wounded in a hail of gunfire.

Another suspect in the shooting, Jose Mendoza, 20, was arrested Wednesday on five counts of first-degree attempted murder.

, DataTimes