Teen gets life term for killing parents

HAILEY, Idaho – An Idaho teen will spend the rest of her life behind bars for shooting her parents two years ago in their south-central Idaho home.

Sarah Johnson, 18, won’t be eligible for parole after 5th District Judge Barry Wood sentenced her Thursday to two terms of fixed life in prison, plus 15 years for using a rifle to kill her parents, Alan and Diane Johnson, in their Bellevue home on Sept. 3, 2003.

“The risk to society outweighs your individual needs and wants,” Wood told a pale and tearful Johnson. “If this were a death penalty case, you would be a candidate for it.”

Prosecutors hadn’t sought the death penalty, in part because of Johnson’s youth.

The sentence was the culmination of a six-week trial that ended March 16 in Johnson’s conviction – and two days of sentencing hearings Wednesday and Thursday in which 11 members of Johnson’s family offered at times angry, at times pleading testimony. Her brother, Matt, said he never wanted to see or hear from his sister again.

Bob Pangburn, Johnson’s lawyer, pledged to appeal Wood’s decision – he has 42 days to file the paperwork. For now, however, prosecutors who asked Wood to deliver the maximum penalty of life without parole said they’re thankful they got what they wanted.

“Our major involvement is over,” said Blaine County Prosecutor Jim Thomas, who plans to send 40 boxes of documents to lawyers with the Idaho attorney general, who will handle the appeal.

Before the sentencing, Johnson spoke publicly for the first time since her trial began in February and told Wood that she loved her parents and family.

“I am deeply grieving the loss of my parents as well as the loss of my family, my home, my friends and my community,” she said. “With the guidance of the Lord and the continued support of those that believe in me, I hope to rebuild my life and prove that I can be a productive member of society.”

Wood rejected Johnson’s plea for leniency.

“You’re not trying to truly seek rehabilitation,” he told her. “What you’re trying to do is get off.”

Thomas said family members were disappointed in Johnson’s statement.

“We were hopeful that Sarah would truly turn to the family, and talk to them,” he said. “Not this canned statement.”

Pangburn said Johnson was upset following the sentence, though she “reacted well for an 18-year-old who’s spent the last two years in jail, and finds out that she’ll spend the rest of her life behind bars.”

Johnson is indigent, so Pangburn will ask the state public defender to assist in the appeal, which will focus on such issues as the sentence and Wood’s jury instructions.

“It’s a complete disappointment,” Pangburn said. “Not only did he (Wood) not give her leniency, he gave her absolutely the longest term he could give her, plus 15 years. It really saddens me that I didn’t see any of the compassion that I was hoping for.”

Prosecutors and other law enforcement agents in Blaine County, the location of the tony resort community of Sun Valley, say Johnson carefully planned the slaying of her parents before walking into their bedroom and firing a .264-caliber rifle – first into her mother’s head as she slept, then into her father’s chest as he left the shower in an adjoining bathroom.

Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling said Johnson killed them out of fear they would ask local police to arrest her older boyfriend, Bruno Santos, a 19-year-old undocumented immigrant.

Santos, who was discounted as a suspect in the slayings, has since been deported to Mexico.

“I still say this is one of the saddest cases I’ve ever been involved with,” Femling said. “The sentence was fair. Judge Wood did what he had to do.”

Johnson’s trial was moved to the Ada County Courthouse in Boise because of extensive news coverage. The case, which has cost Blaine County nearly $1 million, is the costliest trial in its history.