A man accused in a 36-hour crime spree that left two people dead in 2008 will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Reginald Johnson, 25, pleaded guilty Friday to a long list of charges connected to the crime spree, prosecutors said. He'd been charged with killing a teenage boy in a west Charlotte park and then a 42-year-old woman only hours later.
The series of crimes began on Aug. 20, 2008, when a man reported being robbed of his Nissan Altima at gunpoint. The car would later be connected with other crimes.
Early the next morning, another man told police a robber pulled a gun on him at a motel off Clanton Road and stole his 1997 Ford Expedition before fleeing in the vehicle. Police said Johnson was the suspect in that theft.
That evening, 15-year-old William Adams was at Five Points Park near Johnson C. Smith University when he was fatally shot by Johnson, police said. A witness told the Observer that he saw the teen and a man arguing, then heard a gunshot and saw Adams, a rising sophomore at Harding University High School, fall to the ground.
About five hours later, police said, Johnson approached Angela Davis and another person as they walked near the Amtrak station on North Tryon Street. He pulled a gun and demanded money. When they said they didn't have any, Johnson shot Davis in the chest, police said. She died a short time later at an area hospital.
The crimes sparked a manhunt for Johnson, who was soon spotted in the stolen Altima in northern Charlotte. He sped away from police, crashed, then jumped from the car and ran before he was eventually arrested.
Johnson was scheduled for trial in April. Prosecutors were to seek the death penalty.
Instead, he pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder, five counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, four counts of attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery.
He received two life sentences for the murder charges, plus a minimum of an additional 141 years in prison for the other crimes.
"The defendant will spend the rest of his life in prison without the state calling a single witness," said Mecklenburg District Attorney Andrew Murray.
