GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A jury in Gwinnett County has declared a mistrial on a felony murder charge after the suspect defended himself in court.
Channel 2's Tony Thomas is in Lawrenceville, where jurors came back Wednesday afternoon with a mixed verdict. The judge declared a mistrial on three counts, including the felony murder charge. Johnson was convicted of four other charges including aggravated assault and possession of drugs.
Johnson is accused of shooting bystander Kevin Pierre after a fight in the middle of a Gwinnett County street in 2014.
Sherwin Johnson faced seven counts, including felony murder. Deliberations spread over four days.
Johnson argued that Pierre was alive when he fled the scene and someone else is responsible for his death.
Jurors declared Johnson guilty of two counts of aggravated assault, possession of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance. A mistrial was declared on the murder charge as well as one count of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm and possession of a concealed weapon.
Thomas spoke to the jury foreman, Michael Smith, who said 11 of the 12 jurors wanted to declare Johnson not guilty of murder, but in the end, they couldn't convince one holdout.
"We were deadlocked for several days and then we kind of made a decision to kind of come together on some of the counts," Smith said. "We reached the decision based on circumstances we saw in the evidence."
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Johnson represented himself with the help of court-appointed counsel. For ten days, he questioned witnesses and argued to the jury someone else must have killed Pierre.
After more than 20 hours of discussions, the jury told the judge it was deadlocked on the major counts -- for a second time.
Johnson was found guilty of two aggravated assault counts and a drug charge.
The big question now is whether or not prosecutors will retry the murder case. Johnson will be sentenced at a later date.
Johnson's lawyer, Wesley Person, said he is pleased with the result.
"There are some attorneys who have practiced decades and could not have got the results he got," Person said.