Warner Robins police dangled man over bridge to coerce 1984 murder confession, federal lawsuit alleges

Timothy Johnson alleges in a federal lawsuit that Warner Robins police officers dangled him by his ankles over a bridge off Ga. 96 in October 1984, threatening to drop him if he didn't sign a murder confession.

Johnson, then 22, had been arrested in the Sept. 14, 1984, fatal shooting of Taressa Stanley, a clerk at a Kwickie Food Store on Wellborn Road and Wall Street in Warner Robins, during a robbery.

Handcuffed and shackled, Johnson refused to sign the confession, he said Monday, speaking to several media outlets outside the federal courthouse in downtown Macon.

"At one point it scared me so bad I told them I must be having a heart attack or something," Johnson said. "That's when it ended. They took me to the hospital."

He pleaded guilty three months later to armed robbery and murder, and was sentenced to three life sentences.

More than 20 years later, in 2006, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned the conviction, ruling that Johnson had not been properly informed of his rights before he pleaded guilty. Later that year, a jury acquitted Johnson of all charges.

Johnson filed a federal suit Monday against Houston County, Warner Robins, former wardens of Georgia State Prison in Reidsville, Houston County Sheriff Cullen Talton, four Houston County deputies, and seven Warner Robins police officers.

The suit includes claims of malicious prosecution, false arrest, false imprisonment and civil rights violations.

Johnson alleges that he was coerced into pleading guilty in 1984 in exchange for prosecutors' not seeking the death penalty.

Prosecutors filed a notice in 2006 saying they would again seek the death penalty against Johnson.

By the time his trial was held in 2013, witnesses had died or couldn't be located. Evidence had been destroyed, including a gun and a bullet.

Attorneys for Houston County and Warner Robins each said they hadn't been served with a copy of the lawsuit Monday afternoon and declined comment.

Attempts to reach a Georgia Department of Corrections representative were unsuccessful.

Aside from monetary compensation, Johnson also is seeking reform and awareness in filing his suit, said Zahra Karinshak, one of two Atlanta lawyers representing Johnson.

Karinshak, a former federal prosecutor, said the case is "about people knowing what happened, it's about righting a wrong and it's about making our system better for everyone."

YEARS IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

While held at Georgia State Prison, a maximum security facility in Reidsville that once housed Georgia's death row, Johnson says he was "subjected to inhumane and debilitating lengths of solitary confinement."

He lived in a cramped, windowless cell for nearly nine years, at times being beaten by guards and sustaining broken bones, according to the suit. During that time, he wasn't allowed to make phone calls and was given nearly no access to recreation, exercise or vocational activities, according to the suit.

While awaiting his new trial, Johnson said he again was placed in solitary confinement for more than four and a half years at the Houston County jail.

As a result of his stints in solitary confinement, Johnson says he has suffered anxiety, insomnia, nightmares, difficulty concentrating, heart palpitations, depression, hallucinations and trouble with his vision.

'ONE DAY AT A TIME'

Now 53, Johnson is living with his elderly parents in Warner Robins.

"I feel blessed that they're still here after more than 30 years," he said Monday afternoon.

Looking back on his time in prison, Johnson said he missed out on getting married and having children.

He's taking it "one day at a time," assimilating since he's been released.

Looking back to the moment when he was exonerated, Johnson said he could only look up and thank God and pray.

"It's over," he said.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398 or find her on Twitter@awomackmacon.

This story was originally published November 9, 2015 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Warner Robins police dangled man over bridge to coerce 1984 murder confession, federal lawsuit alleges ."