Billings man gets 40 years in prison for beating 4 women

BILLINGS – A 31-year-old Billings man with a long history of violence against women has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Todd Michael Johnson was charged with beating and hospitalizing four women in five attacks over a six-month period in 2014. Johnson was convicted in two cases and prosecutors moved to dismiss the other three cases while allowing the women to testify at Johnson’s sentencing.

The Billings Gazette reported District Judge Gregory Todd sentenced Johnson Tuesday after Johnson’s defense attorney argued that 40 years was a long time for someone who had not killed anyone.

Court records said a woman Johnson was convicted of assaulting in August 2014 suffered a broken nose, broken ribs, a cracked jaw and a collapsed lung and had a boot print-shaped bruise on her face. She had been left on the ground outside a Billings emergency room.