A Kansas City police officer who left the force in 2014 was sentenced last week to life in prison for shooting and killing a 71-year-old man in the Walmart parking lot located at North Boardwalk Avenue in Kansas City.
Taquiza Johnson, 49, received the sentence for the second degree murder of Ronald Barnett. Johnson also received a 15-year sentence for armed criminal action, which by law, must run consecutive to the life sentence.
Johnson
On Sept. 14, Circuit Judge Myles Perry imposed the sentences recommended by a Platte County jury after a five-day trial in June.
Just days before his death, Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd said, “It is almost incomprehensible that a brazen shooting like this could even happen in a busy Walmart parking lot during the middle of the day. By recommending the life sentence for murder, the twelve jurors in this case made an emphatic statement that crimes like this will be met with strict justice in Platte County.”
Prosecutors proved at trial that Johnson, who served with KCPD for approximately 10 years from 2004-2014, exchanged words with Barnett when Johnson believed Barnett drove too close to him as Johnson was leaving Walmart via the crosswalk. Barnett got out of his car and the parties briefly exchanged words. The defendant, who testified in his own defense, claimed the victim threatened his life.
The verbal altercation quickly ended, and then Barnett drove away. Johnson went to his own car.
Video surveillance from Walmart then showed Barnett park his vehicle in a handicapped parking spot. About a minute later, Johnson’s car stopped in the driving lane directly behind Barnett’s SUV.
Johnson got out of his car with a gun hidden behind his back. There was another brief verbal confrontation in the driving lane between the two, and Johnson shot Barnett one time in the center of the abdomen.
Barnett fell to the ground, and Johnson got back in his vehicle and drove away. Paramedics arrived, and the Barnett was taken to North Kansas City Hospital, where he died a short time later.
During trial, Johnson asserted that he was only defending himself because of the earlier threats made to his life by the victim. However, Johnson admitted on the witness stand during cross-examination that Barnett was not armed.
Circuit Judge Perry, who presided over the trial, properly refused to give the jury an instruction on self-defense based upon the evidence presented.
Zahnd said, “The law on self-defense in Missouri is clear: Verbal threats are not enough. Name-calling is not enough.”
At sentencing, the victim’s daughter and granddaughter gave tearful victim impact statements asking the court to impose the sentence recommended by the jury.
The case was investigated by the Kansas City Police Department. It was tried by Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Findley and Interim Prosecuting Attorney Mark L. Gibson.