Jury Hears About Chilling Words From Rochester Murder Suspect
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - “Both of them asked for what they got.”
An Olmsted County jury was told Friday those were the words of a Rochester murder suspect.
They were part of the opening statement given by the prosecutor in the double murder trial of 55-year-old Glenn Johnson. He is charged with fatally stabbing 57-year-old Philip Hicks and 45-year-old Eric Flemmings on St. Patrick’s Day in 2018 at the Rochester Salvation Army Castleview Apartments.
The jury was told Johnson attacked Hicks first. The victim was in his wheelchair getting ready to enter his room when Johnson ambushed him and stabbed him in the chest. Johnson then went after Flemmings, who was nearby in the hallway and witnessed what had happened. Both men bled to death.
The jury was told there had been several altercations between Johnson and the two victims and that he “had enough of their drinking, noise, and music.”
One of those altercations happened about half an hour before the stabbings. A police officer called to the complex found Johnson was very upset and “ranting” about the two men. Minutes after the officer left, Johnson attacked the victims.
Defense attorney Bill Wright told the jury Johnson is not guilty because of mental illness. He said this will be a rare bifurcated or two-part trial. In the first phase, the jury will decide if Johnson is guilty of the killings. If so, it will then have to decide if he was mentally ill at the time and not aware that what he did was wrong.
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