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January 9, 2010 in City
CdA shooter released after case dropped
Grand jury declines to indict man over late-night incident
Johnson
(Full-size photo)
A man accused of shooting two men during a night of drinking in downtown Coeur d’Alene left jail Friday after a grand jury declined to indict him.
Adam M. Johnson, 25, said he shot Brandon R. Burgess and Bradley J. Phillips in self-defense after the men and their friends threatened him during an early-morning argument Dec. 27.
The men had argued at a bar hours earlier, and police said Johnson was attacked by the men only after he fired a gun at them.
A grand jury apparently disagreed and refused to indict Johnson, the CEO of a Coeur d’Alene-based telecommunications company. Charges of attempted murder and aggravated battery were dismissed Friday in Kootenai County District Court.
“The facts in the case, I think, pointed to self-defense, absolutely,” said public defender Anne Taylor. “We were developing a very good case.”
Grand jury proceedings are closed to the public, and witness testimony and evidence is confidential.
Kootenai County Deputy Prosecutor Art Verharen, who conducted the two-and-a-half-day proceeding, declined comment.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Barry Black said he wished he knew what went into the decision.
“Are we disappointed? Sure,” Black said. “We felt that there probably was enough to go forward … otherwise, we wouldn’t have proceeded.”
Phillips, 25, told police Johnson pulled a .40-caliber handgun after one of Phillips’ friends said, “If you want to do something then let’s just settle it right now,” according to a police report.
Phillips was shot in the knee and Burgess, 25, was shot in the stomach when Johnson was tackled, according to police reports.
Police say Johnson fired the gun once at the men before they tackled him and punched him in the face repeatedly, causing heavy bruising. The first shot didn’t strike anyone.
Johnson, the founder of Convertec and a member of the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce board of directors, told police immediately after the shooting that he felt threatened by Burgess, Phillips and their friends, and feared for his life.
“Adam said as soon as he was jumped, he thought they were going to kill him,” according to the police report. “He stated that he tried to empty it (the clip) before he went to the ground because he knew that he would be killed.”
Johnson’s friends, rallied by Facebook postings and a group called “Free Adam Johnson,” packed the courtroom Friday.
“We know that Adam was in the right with this and he shouldn’t have been charged,” said Candace McEnespy. “This is going to make Adam stronger and better. I think everyone who knows him knows that.”
Johnson left Kootenai County Jail, where he was being held on $500,000 bail, shortly after the court hearing. He declined interviews.
Phillips and Burgess, who were in Coeur d’Alene for Christmas to visit Burgess’ mother, were not available for comment. Each has filed a civil claim against Johnson, seeking payment for medical expenses and other damages.
Phillips recovered at Kootenai Medical Center; Burgess underwent surgery at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and is recovering.
The men were in a group of about eight people drinking at downtown bars when they ran into Johnson at the Underground bar on Sherman.
One of the men said the group had been asked to leave the Torch bikini bar because Burgess’ mother, who witnessed the shooting, and a friend “were getting out of hand, possibly with the stage dancers,” according to the police report.
The group encountered Johnson again about 12:45 a.m. in the 200 block of Sherman Avenue.
Police estimated hundreds of people poured out the downtown bars at the sound of four or five gunshots.
One bullet hit a parked car, and one of the Moses Lake men told police he “freaked out” and threw Johnson’s gun on the roof of a nearby restaurant, according to police.
Johnson, who has a concealed weapons permit, told police he always carried the pistol in the front of his waist with no holster, according to police reports.
A judge based his $500,000 bond partly on his criminal record, which includes a drunken driving conviction and a dismissed charge of carrying a concealed weapon while intoxicated.
Taylor, Johnson’s public defender, said her client was “greatly relieved” at the dismissal.
“Being charged with this type of offense and being put in jail is a very, very frightening experience for anyone.”
Human trafficking suspects released 
eagleproducer on January 09 at 10:14 a.m.
Why was the public defender’s office involved with Johnson’s case if he owns a telecommunications company and is on the Post Falls chamber of commerce board of directors?
Is it normal for those with the means to hire private counsel to abuse public resources this way? Sounds like another (in a never ending series) corporate bail out to me.
Zaga on January 09 at 11:18 a.m.
One question in my mind about the shooter is did he have his gun on him all night. It was mentioned that he was in altercation with these individuals earlier at a bar. Isn’t illegal to possess a gun at a bar? This makes me think this shooter had to now go get his weapon following the first altercation because he “stirred the pot” so to speak. Yet stays in the area in which these individuals are frequenting, just to have them come out of a bar later for him to say something with loose lips to get called out with “If you want to do something then let’s just settle it right now.” The gun thing is what gets me I guess. When did he go get his gun? Did he have a in the bar? If so he should be charged unlawful possession of a firearm. I think he could be walked or ran away from that situation instead provoked the altercation and didn’t inform authorities.
letthefactsspeak on January 09 at 11:48 a.m.
The reason he qualified for a public defender is because he signed over all of his posessions ie; car, condo, business & bank accounts to his best freind. This entire situation comes down to not what you know, but who you know. I just hope if I am every drunk and stupid enough to carry a gun and use it in this type of situation that my friends will come to my aid and testify under oath in front of a grand jury false testimony. I will give Adams freinds a lot of credit for sticking by him and going to those lengths to save him. I guess justice will now be served on the civil side of the law…
Potato on January 09 at 2:23 p.m.
I don’t know any responsible gun owners who would go out to the bars on a busy weekend during the holidays with a .40 caliber pistol tucked into thier waitband, let alone bring a firearm along while they are drinking. If downtown Coeur d’ Alene makes you feel so unsettled that you feel you need to bring a firearm to protect yourself maybe you should stay away from downtown.
Just the fact that Johnson’s gun was tucked into his waist band and not in some sort of holster while out at cowded bars, makes me wonder if he had the gun all night or if went and got it.
Sir_Lancelot on January 09 at 7:58 p.m.
Zaga -
No, it’s not illegal to posses a firemarm in an Idaho bar. It is in Washington, not Idaho. There has been no report of Adam actually drinking in the bar which would be illegal while posessing the firearm, but nothing in his statements, or the police statements, or the witness statements suggested that he was drinking (I’m referring to published statements by the media). So, yes, one could speculatat how the whole scene went down, but the only witnesses were Adam and the 8 guys who were hassling him. I’m actually curious why the police didn’t arrest all of them and then sort out what happened before charging someone with attempted murder.
letthefactsspeak -
“I just hope if I am every drunk and stupid enough to carry a gun and use it in this type of situation that my friends will come to my aid and testify under oath in front of a grand jury false testimony.”
WOW!! So much for letting the FACTS speak. Let’s go over the ACTUAL facts -
1) There is no evidence to show that Adam did anything wrong
2) He was NOT drunk…I don’t know if he was drinking (never been any mention of it) but, I guarantee you; if he was drunk, it would have been reported.
3) Since the Grand Jury proceeding are not public; how can you accuse his friends of giving false testimony to the grand jury?
And I’m curious to know how you know this about him signing over his property? I’m thinking that this may be a false statement since you’ve lost credibility with your other remarks.
Potato -
Most responsible gun owners carry guns for two reasons; 1) to protect themselves and others from violence, and 2) because they can. It is a right secured by the US Constitution.
They don’t necesarilly carry because they feel the need to be protected in downtown Coeur d’Alene; they feel the need to be protected anywhere they go. MOST conceal carry holders, not necesarrily Adam from what I understand, do not let anyone know they are carrying. If I’m carrying, you’d never know.
I agree with you 100% about having the gun tucked into the waistband. In my opinion, it should always be secured with a holster if you are going to be carrying (remember Plaxico Burress?).
*******************
Here’s my opinion regarding the incident. Let me clarify; my opinion is bases on what other people who know Adam (I don’t) have said. -
1) I think Adam talks to much about carrying a gun. He needs to be quiet about it. This makes me wonder whether or not he’s been looking for a situation to use his gun.
2) The best gun fight is one you avoid. I, personally, think this could have been avoidable, but I wasn’t there. If it wasn’t avoidable, and the run in outside of the bar was coincidental, I don’t beleive Idaho law specifies a duty to retreat, but doesn’t explicity state the opposite. In Washington, the law explicitly states that you have no duty to retreat. I mention this because numerous people have commented that he should have walked away. Walking away may have saved everyone a lot of trouble, but it may not have been practical and his lack of not soing so isn’t illegal. So, you can say all you want about what he should or shouldn’t have done but, as the Grand Jury indicated, there just wasn’t enough evidence to support any charges.
3) It is my understanding that Adam knew these guys. Given their criminal records, I’m guessing that Adam had a good idea of what these guys were capable of. It appears to me that they were punks. It is easily within the grasp of the imagination to believe that your life is being threatened when it is 8 against one, the eight are punks, and they still come at you after you have pulled a gun and told them to stop. For those who say, “Deadly force wasn’t called for.” What kind of force would have stopped these guys? Apparently deadly force didn’t back them down. It doesn’t take a weapon for someone to kill another when they are intent on committing violence against you.
Well, that my $.02.
Lance
mky on January 10 at 12:48 a.m.
Well, I was going to rant, but Sir_Lancelot did such a nice job that I don’t really have to! so instead I’ll just ramble….
I have specifically sited the same fact to my friends and family about this (as far as I can gather from the articles). Adam (at some point) had his weapon drawn. I know some pretty crazy people, but not any that would run at someone that has a gun drawn and pointed at them in fact, I would guess that most of my combat vet brothers wouldn’t even do that and they’ve been shot at by much worse than a pistol.
I caught this from the Seattle Times:
“He did not get jumped,” Burgess said in an interview with the Spokesman-Review. “If anybody was acting in self defense, it was the eight guys we had with us.”
Seems to me if this is an accurate quote, then there were more than eight people and (while possible) I find it hard to believe that a man runs his own business and is on the chamber of commerce board of a (small) city, that he would make the decision to attack a group of 8+ people! But… maybe he did…
Rumors:
as I understand it one of the people that has been quoted as a witness is the mother of the two boys, who was with them at the time.. what I understand and let me reiterate this is a RUMOR. She had already been kicked out of at least one bar early in the evening for being disruptive.. if that is true, it only bolsters my opinion that Adam was actually defending himself against an unruly mob of sorts (poorly, but that’s a different point).
Adam obviously has something to learn about CCW, I think he may have been able to handle the situation better (but I wasn’t there). I’m glad that the charges where dropped, because it was starting to seem like someone just wanted to make a name or set up to try and change a law. I got caught up in the legal system once and in case you aren’t aware, you ARE guilty until proven innocent.
richie on January 10 at 11:40 a.m.
Whether or not it was legal to be carrying a gun while bar hopping does not make Mr. Adam Dumbass any less of an idiot. Though I didn’t administer a blood, breath or sobriety test, I will assume he was drinking and somewhat impaired. I will also assume he was armed with a cell phone and could have dialed 911 if he felt he was threatened by this unarmed group of drunks looking for a fist fight. I am all for people carrying concealed weapons,only to counteract armed criminals intending to commit robberies and other violent crimes. I highly doubt that he felt his life was in danger. He only had to say that he did to meet the criteria of the law. Idaho needs to change their concealed carry laws to make bars off limits for firearms, or at least a crime under these circumstances. It’s only common sense.
Sir_Lancelot on January 10 at 12:36 p.m.
Ritchie -
I really don’t understand how you can “assume he was drinking and somewhat impaired.” I think this would be an important part of the prosecutor’s case and would likely have been reported. But, then again, that would be an assumption on my part. It’s a good thing that assumptions aren’t admissible in court.
I also think that you are VERY naive to think that calling 911 against an unruly mob (8+ guys against 1 constitutes a mob, in my opinion) is an appropriate reaction. These guys charged at him when he had a gun pointed at them; do you really think that they would have just stood there while he dials 911? Also, there is an old saying that goes, “When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.” Also, showing you naivety, is to think that ones life isn’t being threatened by multiple assailants who are only “looking for a fist fight.” Many “fist fights” have gotten out of hand because of a mob mentality when it is multiple people against one and that one ends up dead. Go check the research for yourself and look up “man slaughter” cases…they didn’t “mean” to kill anyone.
I think a reasonable person should be able to see how Adam could feel his life was threatened. Apparently, the Grand Jury felt the same way that I do.
The fact is; this group was already kicked out of at least one bar for being unruly. Perhaps this unruly behavior may have contributed to the argument that Adam had with this group earlier, but I have no idea as this aspect of the case hasn’t been reported.
We cannot start turning the instigators of these situations (in this case, the unruly group of men) into the “victims” if the real victim happens to fight back and someone in the mob almost gets killed. If you want to wait to be a victim yourself, Ritchie, then that’s your prerogative but, I’m not going to be a victim if I can help it.
Lance
richie on January 10 at 5:43 p.m.
I think we are both making a few assumptions here, Lance. I am just wondering if the statistics show what percentage of bar confrontations result in a person being beat to death by a unruly mob? Was the situation grave enough to be unable to dial 911 before pulling out the gun? I wonder how many people go to bars in CDA and not drink? I wonder how many people (especially CCW permit holders) think that it is a good idea to carry weapons while bar hopping? I wonder in how many states that this is actually illegal (and why)? I wonder if Adam actually thinks it was a good idea at this point? And I really wonder if he actually went and retrieved his weapon after the first confontation? Premeditation? Maybe they asked for it, but I think they recieved a little more than they deserved. As for the grand jury, they never found out the true story due to the conflicting testimony, i.e meaning there is no way to find out what really happened. Hopefully, it will all be sorted out in the civil court if a settlement is not reached. Respectfully, Richie
Sir_Lancelot on January 10 at 6:06 p.m.
Richie -
Obviously, you and I aren’t going to agree. You appear to be one of those liberally minded individuals who are going to blame the guy who was attacked, rather than the one defending himself. You show your real liberal stripes when you think the answer is going to be found in civil court. So, if you attack someone who defends themselves and you incur medical expenses, make you you sue the guy who defended himself. The facts are still going to remain the same and the only winners will be the lawyers. What ever happened toward personal responsibility? If Burgess and gang wouldn’t have attacked, and would have backed off when a guy with a gun told them to back off; they wouldn’t have been shot and no lawsuit necessary.
A lot of people are saying that Adam should have walked away. Don’t you think that when you encounter someone with a gun, the right move would be to walk away? Your still relying on 911 as if you know that he had time to make a 911 call.
Also, this wasn’t a bar confrontation anymore, the type where other people would help break it up. It was 8+ guys on the street against one. Not exactly the same as a bar confrontation. Seeing as how you can’t seem to put yourselves in someone else’s shoes, we’ll likely never agree.
Lance
mky on January 10 at 6:53 p.m.
I’m always in awe of the fact that people automatically assume the guy with the gun was the bad guy. You know what statistic you never see in the news? how many crimes were stopped by people with CCW. I just saw a state put out by one of those “people against violence” groups. They said that in 2009 157 or was 175, I’m close but I can’t find the article now.. anyway over 100 people and less than 200 people were kill buy persons with a concealed carry license…. what they fail to point out is that well over 5 million people in this country have concealed carry licenses….(it’s hard to pinpoint because there isn’t a clear reporting rule about how many have been issued in any state, and it should stay that way in my opinion) now go find a statistic that says how many people were killed buy A. repeat offenders and B. persons without a concealed carry license..
I hear ALL the time how scared people are of guns and how dangerous guns are.. and every time I find out that those same people have never even fired a gun let alone touched one.
You can complain about people that legal carry a weapon all you want, but check the stats. every time a law is change in favor of gun owners and concealed carry, crime rates go down… hmmm wonder why…
richie on January 10 at 9:01 p.m.
You and I being able to disagree is what makes this country great. We may agree if we were both there, and actually saw what happened. We have both drawn different conclusions based on what we have read and assumed to be the most likely scenario, which again we may not agree on. I do not disagree with some of the points you have made, especially on the right to defend yourself if you are facing GRAVE circumstances. I guess that is where the rub is. As far as myself being a gun grabbing, felon hugging liberal, my wallet holstered Keltec P3AT would have to disagree. I just think this is a case of dumb meeting dumber, and it’s cases like this that will lose our hard won rights to conceal carry. Praise the lord and pass the ammunition…….
BKM on January 10 at 9:44 p.m.
Wow I geuss adam Johnson has alot of stroke n cdl to be able to get him self out of trying to kill someone with a pistol. Infact I am so inpressed by this that I am considering moveing to cdl, signing up for the big brother program, and then go out drinking with my pistol. I am sure it has to make a guy feel perty tough knowing that he has a weapon and is not afraid to pull it out at anytime.
So I geuss what I learned from this whole thing is if someone pulls a gun on you and threatens to kill you the thing to do is let him shoot you, hope to god that you live, and then hope the grand jury is not friends with the shooter. I hope when adam dose something like this again and kills someone that all of u who set him free really feel good about yourself.
mky on January 10 at 10:42 p.m.
imagination anyone??..
what if he was at the bar earlier in the day for a friends birthday or just to visit a friend and then went elsewhere and was just walking back to his car when he encountered them…
REALLY no one goes to a bar and doesn’t drink???? What about a Designated Driver??? isn’t that the whole point? you go to the bar with your friends and don’t drink….
It seems for many people the only possibility is he’s a criminal and the 12 people on the GRAND JURY who refused to indite him were just stupid….
Zaga on January 11 at 12:26 p.m.
Thanks Lance and Ritchie great follow ups. My focus is the Intent of both groups. It sounds so much like a school-yard scuffle gone wrong. You have both parties saying it was in self defense yet we will never know the real reasons why everything went wrong. Just plan irrational behavior, possibly? I guess I cant understand why he would pull a gun a group. Was he intending on shooting all of them? Did he really think they would freeze like they would a cop knowing that the cop has the right to shoot them. I think he pulled his gun to stop the situation but it didn’t. He made it worse, probably his biggest mistake. Now the threat was on the group and they reacted, instead of standing around and being a sitting duck. Yes the odds where against Adam the whole time. I believe the group could and probably where threating to Adam in which case they would be conspiring to commit an act of violence or etc. I just hope Adam was trying to talk his way out and found it to be futile and really did have a threat, like someone saying “i’m going to kill you” or a hand reaching for a weapon or what ever else. To have some say let finish what started is started sound like to negotiation not an ultimatum.
Just a few more cents for the pile.
Zaga
VickieLu1971 on January 11 at 4:07 p.m.
OK WAIT A MINUTE… so am I hearing this right? Adam gets kicked out of the bar for the altercation that started inside… HOURS later the group of 8 walk out, talking joking around and they turn a corner and come face to face with Adam holding a gun.. AFTER he fires the first shot, they charge him and get the firearm away from him and throw it on a roof so it isnt in reach of anyone involved and NOONE can find fault in Adam’s actions??? WTH?!?!?! Adam was being threatened??? HUH?
when Adam left the bar, the boys didnt follow him… Adam had ample time to go and leave it alone, instead he WAITED for all 8 of the young men to come out… what kind of FREAKIN IDIOT gets into a bar fight with 8 young guys and then when he is KICKED OUT, waits for HOURS for them to come out so he can finish it… if he wasnt drunk, he was MIGHTY STUPID… and then Adam has the NERVE to call on the sympathy of everyone: (paraphrasing)
“OH it was 8 against 1… boo hoo poor me… I had to pull a gun, I was too stupid and drunk to find my way home in the HOURS I had to wait for them to come outside. all I could do was wait for them and shoot them to show them that they cant mess with me. Boo Hoo Poor me”
and the fact that he is a buisness OWNER had nothing to do with him getting off right??? and how DID he qualify for a Public Defender??? If he didnt sign all of his posessions over to someone (friend or family member) why doesnt he have enough value to hire his own attorney? makes a person wonder…
I’m very interested in finding out a Statute of limitations on this Civil lawsuit.. and since he is the Founder and CEO of Convertec, I am wondering if the gentlemen could sue the company to retrieve their losses due to his PREMEDITATED attempted MURDER… along with the other 6 that have been emotionally scarred due to his overly violent actions against them as well… who knows how many of them he would have shot if those brave young men didnt get that weapon away from him… Adam had hours to think about it, stew over it, make a decision, devise a plan, and find friends to help him out since he obvioulsy couldnt let it go and leave well enough alone. Instead he retrieved his weapon and waited for them to come out… that denotes Premeditation… if he wasnt there hours later, they wouldnt have been viewed as a threat…
and just because they were in a group doesnt mean they were unruly or a mob. they were a group of people out on the town, having a good time, until Asshat, I mean Adam turned deadly….
Think about the TIMELINE… it isnt as if this all happened in a matter of 5 or 10 minutes… this was over a course of HOURS… Adam definately needs to be held accountable.. I hope the civil suit takes everything he ever even dreamed of having… and I pray that the next time that creepy little man decides to shoot someone, that they survive as well… because it will happen again, he wasnt held accountable this time, why wouldnt he do it again?? after all wasnt he (and everyone else) told in this event that it is ok to shoot a group of people as long as you can be convincing that you were
a-skeered?? hope the crime rate doesnt go through the roof over this new revelation…
and if you dont know these young men I wouldn’t go around calling them punks or drunks… as it were, some of those boys dont even drink… they are some of the most responsible, loving, caring young men that I have EVER had the fortune of knowing…
Sir_Lancelot on January 11 at 5:18 p.m.
VickieLu1971 -
Apparently you are friends with some of these guys and I’m glad you say that some of them don’t drink and are fine young men. This goes toward my point that I tried to make earlier about a “mob mentality”; when people act different when they are around some other people than they would in a different group. The whole non-drinking part also goes to show my point that it is possible that Adam was not drinking (people are assuming that since he was out at the bars the he must’ve been drinking). Unfortunately, these fine young men obviously didn’t diffuse this situation…maybe they didn’t instigate it, but they certainly didn’t stop it.
Regarding him being a business owner having anything to do with the charges dropped - you are naive if you think this is the way the law works. It’s kind of like people thinking that only the rich get tax breaks. Don’t use that mentality. I’ve been on juries and a person status as a business owner has nothing to do with a criminal decision. Now, what may have contributed to the decision, since all of the “witnesses” were actually involved in the incident, was the credibility of the witnesses. On one side, you have a person who is a business owner and also trying to give back to society by being a Big Brother (who also has had a DUI). And what is on the other side; I don’t know. What I do know is that I’ve never been arrested and I’m almost twice as old as these guys. I also know that it would be devastating to be arrested once, let alone time and time again like Burgess and Phillips. This is why I said that they appear to be punks, at least, Burgess and Phillips. Anyone who constantly breaks the law and gets caught (you know they’ve done a ton of crap that they never got caught doing, or they are the most unlucky guys in the world and just happen to get caught every time they break the law) is a punk, in my book. So, really, who is more credible? The business owner who is trying to make something of himself, or the “punks”.
Regarding the facts of this case; it wasn’t Adam who got kicked out of a bar, it was the gang of young men and apparently, it didn’t have anything to do with the altercation with Adam earlier, it was another issue. So, now we know that they were in at least two altercations before running into Adam again. And, what makes you think he was waiting for anyone? There’s no evidence that he was waiting for anyone; they turned the corner and Johnson was there - period. You act like he was just sitting there for HOURS waiting for these guys to come out so he could shoot them. Not likely. Also, why would you say he went and retrieved his gun? Why wouldn’t you think he had it with him all night? Face it; you create this picture to support the view of “premeditation” because these “responsible, loving, caring young men” couldn’t have possibly instigated a situation where someone got shot, right? Believe me, I understand where you want to come from, but the facts just don’t support it.
Also, people want to make Adam out to be wealthy or something. he is the CEO of a small telecommunications company. He structured his business as a corporation and he happens to own the place; this doesn’t mean he has money. For all I know, he can be going broke. That’s certainly what is going to happen to pay for the attorney fees to defend himself from a civil suit, or two. By the way, forming a corporation is a good idea so you personally don’t take on the liabilities of the business. On the same token, the business isn’t going to take on the liability of an employee (the CEO is an employee). So, no, the business can’t be sued for this altercation.
It’s understandable for you to be emotional about this but make sure your statements are factually based.
Lance
Sir_Lancelot on January 11 at 5:43 p.m.
Richie -
Maybe I was a little harsh calling you a liberal, however; when you start carrying a gun, you MUST train with it and get instruction. Once you start training, you’ll learn more about violence. No, a bar fight isn’t really “violence”, but when a person seemingly has no regard for your life and i is either you or them; you have to act appropriately and a 911 call isn’t going to cut it when running into a violent situation. You may have 3-5 seconds to act and decide how you are going to survive.
We don’t know for sure what was going through Adam’s mind, but if he felt this was going to be a violent confrontation, he likely acted appropriately. Now, that being said, every single one of my gun buddies that I’ve talked to agree that we wouldn’t have ever gotten ourselves in that situation in the first place, but it’s easy to be an “arm chair” quarterback.
Be safe.
Lance