Portage County Legal News

Court affirms conviction of Youngstown street gang member

JESSICA SHAMBAUGH
Special to the Legal News
Published: September 15, 2014

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed multiple convictions for another member of the Youngstown street gang LSP.

Recently, the three-judge appellate panel released an opinion affirming Derrick Johnson’s convictions for his role in gang violence as well as weapons and drug offenses.

The facts of the case state that Johnson and 23 others were charged in 2011 after a lengthy investigation of the LSP street gang.

The gang was based in Youngstown and named after the streets on which its founding members, including Johnson, grew up.

LSP was known to compete with other gangs for the neighborhood drug trade and things sometimes escalated to the point of drive-by shootings of rival gang members.

Johnson specifically had a reputation for violence and the government showed evidence that he was a regular participant in drive-by shootings.

He was also shown to have joined two other gang members in beating a confidential informant nearly to death after discovering that the man was wearing a wire.

Johnson was charged with a litany of gang, drug and weapons offenses and the matter proceeded to trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

At that trial, the government presented testimony from the lead investigator, Michael Lambert.

Lambert testified as an expert on gangs and described the culture of Youngstown gangs signaling their gang affiliation and marking their territory. He also testified as a fact witness about his observations of LSP specifically.

After multiple weeks of trial, the jury convicted Johnson of RICO conspiracy, violent crimes in aid of racketeering, retaliation against a government witness, carrying a firearm in relation to a violent crime and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

He promptly appealed those charges to the 6th Circuit and challenged Lambert’s expert testimony.

“Johnson argues that the government violated Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16 when it failed to provide him a summary of Sgt. Lambert’s testimony in a timely manner,” Judge Raymond Kethledge wrote for the court.

Upon review, the three-judge appellate panel found that Johnson requested the summary of Lambert’s testimony in March 2011 and he did not receive it until May 2012.

However, the judges ruled that the governing statute does not specify when or how quickly the government must comply to such requests.

Still, Johnson argued that the government gave him only nine days to review the information prior to trial, leaving him unable to prepare cross-examination.

“And Johnson does not explain here why he could not prepare for cross-examination in the nine days afforded him before trial,” Judge Kethledge wrote, overruling the first assignment of error.

Johnson also argued that the trial court failed to properly distinguish between the times when Lambert testified as a fact witness and as an expert witness.

The judges agreed that the error was plain and obvious but found he was not prejudiced by the error because Lambert’s factual testimony was uncontroversial and corroborated by other witnesses and gang members.

Specifically, Lambert described that gangs used graffiti to protect a violent image and gang members also testified that LSP marked its territory with graffiti so “you wouldn’t come there selling.”

Lambert also explained that “respect” was important to gang members and LSP members corroborated that by explaining the importance of respect in the gang.

“Thus, the omission of a cautionary instruction as to Lambert’s dual role did not affect Johnson’s substantial rights,” Judge Kethledge continued.

Fellow circuit judges Helene White and Richard Suhrheinrich joined Judge Kethledge in affirming the lower court’s judgment.

The case is cited USA v. Johnson, case No. 12-4338.

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