Big Bear Lake, CA – May 31, 2012 – Christina Darlene Johnson pleaded no contest to stabbing an auto dealership employee who had attempted to repossess her car at a Post Office last February and has been sentenced to three years in state prison.
Johnson, was also ordered to pay her victim, retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy David Farrell, a total of $98,460.61 in restitution fines.
Court records show that San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Harold T. Wilson denied a motion by Johnson’s court-appointed attorney James Gass to send his client to mental health court, after prosecutor Timothy Dixon opposed it.
The Judge also denied probation for Johnson, and sentenced her to two years in prison for a second count of vehicle theft to which she pleaded no-contest.
The two terms will run concurrently and Johnson’s incarceration will last no more than three years.
Johnson has served 105 days in county jail and under state law, the time, plus an equal number of days for good conduct, will be deducted from her prison term which will shorten her term by 210 days.
On February 13, Christina Darlene Johnson, allegedly stabbed a retired Los Angeles County deputy sheriff hired by the dealership as a repossession agent as he attempted to repossess a 2008 Subaru Impreza from Mitsubishi-Subaru of San Bernardino that she purchased on checks that later bounced. Despite multiple stab wounds and her attempted escape, the District Attorneys office has dropped charges of attempted murder in favor of a no contest plea to lesser charges of felony assault with a deadly weapon with great bodily injury likely and vehicle theft.
The 47 year old Johnson allegedly attacked dealership repo man, David Farrell, as he confronted Johnson at the Cedar Glen post office, where she had gone to pick up her mail.
Farrell had learned Johnson maintained a post office box and spotted her car in the parking lot where he positioned his vehicle behind hers, blocking her in so she could not get away.
Farrell the allegedly approached her inside the post office where it is reported that Johnson shouted at him and walked out. Farrell claims he then followed her to the car getting into the driver’s seat. He claims that she entered the vehicle on the other side and attempted to push him out and start the car.
After Farrell grabbed the keys from her, Johnson allegedly produced a knife and stabbed Farrell in the back. She also reportedly made a 9-1-1 call to report that she was being frightened by a man in her car.
County Sheriff’s reports claim that Farrell exited the vehicle and tossed the keys to Johnson offering to move his car only to be followed by her where she stabbed him again. Sheriffs reports indicate that he was stabbed a total of five times.
When the injured Farrell returned to and entered his own car Johnson reportedly started the Subaru, put it in reverse and rammed the other vehicle out of the way, making her escape.
Johnson, entered pleas to felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon with great bodily injury likely and vehicle theft at a trial-readiness hearing before Judge Harold T. Wilson on April 26.
Judge Wilson granted a motion by Deputy District Attorney Timothy Dixon to dismiss felony charges of attempted murder, assault and nonsufficient funds.
Besides requiring medical treatment for the other stab wounds, Farrell required surgery to repair a severed tendon to his right thumb and faced a lengthy regimen of rehabilitation.
When Johnson is finished with her prison term she will be on parole, and that if she fails to pay money toward restitution, she will be violating her parole terms and may be rearrested.
The restitution ordered is for both Farrell and the car dealership and is based upon input from both.
The prosecution reportedly opposed sending Johnson to mental health court because the offenses involved ”are too serious offenses for drug court.”
None of this would probably have happened if the had hired a “professional”. The dealership must have a ton of repos to keep someone on just to do them. Grabbing the keys out of the customers hands is not a real smart way to do things either. A civil attorney might take this one on just based on that alone.