Efrem Johnson wasn’t happy Tuesday when a Summit County jury returned guilty verdicts against him for a rape 16 years ago.
“Don’t I get to say nothing?” he asked after Summit County Common Pleas Judge Paul Gallagher dismissed the jurors and told them they could stick around to talk to the attorneys. “Don’t I get to say nothing?”
Gallagher told Johnson, who was linked to the rape through DNA evidence, that he will be able to speak at his sentencing. That will be at 9 a.m. Nov. 16.
The jury deliberated for about three hours Friday afternoon and Tuesday morning before reaching guilty verdicts against Johnson for all of the felony charges against him — rape, felonious assault and kidnapping. The trial lasted two days.
Jason Wells, Johnson’s attorney, said his client plans to appeal.
Johnson, 57, who already is in prison for an unrelated 2010 murder, could be sentenced to up to 28 more years in prison. Gallagher ordered a pre-sentence investigation and victim impact statement.
Johnson was linked to the August 2000 rape by a DNA test done as part of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s effort to test rape kits for matches. Johnson’s DNA was on file because of his murder conviction.
This was the first case in Summit County prosecuted as the result of a positive DNA match from the state’s testing effort.
The rape victim, now 54, identified Johnson as her attacker during the trial, saying she recognized his eyes. The woman, then 38, said Johnson lured her into a wooded area in Akron’s Lane-Wooster neighborhood on the morning of Aug. 26, 2000, under the pretense of selling her crack cocaine. She said he then beat and raped her.
Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Greg Peacock said DNA from a rape kit done on the victim was found to be a match for Johnson’s DNA in October 2014. He said the chances that DNA from the rape kit could belong to anyone other than Johnson are 1 in 156 quadrillion.
Wells questioned whether the DNA evidence was reliable after all of this time and said Johnson and the woman could have had consensual sex, with someone else assaulting her.
The victim denied ever having had consensual sex with Johnson.
Johnson is in prison for killing Jacob Courie on St. Patrick’s Day 2010. He was sentenced to life in prison and will be eligible for parole in 2035. Courie, 24, a U.S. Army Reserve veteran, was on leave from a second tour of duty in the Middle East when he was shot in the 300 block of East Exchange Street in Akron after a quarrel with Johnson.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @swarsmithabj and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/swarsmith.