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ST. GEORGE — The case against a St. George woman accused of hitting two teens on scooters while driving impaired has been dismissed after new evidence revealed she was not intoxicated and only left the scene to get help a few doors away.
"First and foremost, we are grateful that deputy Washington County prosecutor Jerry Jaeger made the appropriate decision to dismiss all charges pending against our client. However, the St. George City Police Department never should have arrested our client, and charges never should have been filed," defense attorney Lindsay Jarvis told KSL.com.
Christina Juliana "Julia" Johnson, 18, was accused of hitting two 14-year-olds about 10 p.m. on April 19 in St. George. The boy and girl suffered serious injuries.
Johnson was charged in 5th District Court with two counts of negligently operating a vehicle resulting in serious injury and two counts of failing to remain at the scene of an accident involving serious injury, third-degree felonies; plus DUI, a class B misdemeanor.
But Jarvis says her client did not have any alcohol, drugs or prescription medications in her system.
"Based upon communications with our client, the obvious errors in the probable cause statement, and statements provided from witnesses on scene, we knew the toxicology results would be clean," she said.
On Tuesday, the Washington County Attorney's Office filed a motion for the case to be dismissed, "based upon the review of additional evidence the state has received and (it) is in the best interest of justice." A judge officially dismissed the case on Thursday.
The officer who arrested Johnson, a certified "drug recognition expert," according to a police booking affidavit, conducted field sobriety tests on Johnson at the scene of the accident and allegedly noted mixed results.
"After receiving the clues I observed, I felt Julia may be impaired, yet I did not smell alcohol," the officer wrote in the affidavit.
The officer then conducted additional tests.
"After all tests, I established probable cause that Julia was under the influence of a substance that impaired her ability to operate a vehicle safely," he wrote in the arrest report.
William "Billy" Palmer, co-defense counsel with Jarvis, however, says the affidavit fails to mention that the officer "had Ms. Johnson submit to a portable breath test, which revealed a 0.00%," and had her submit to "a urine test which revealed no illegal substances were in her system," which was also not included in the affidavit.
Surveillance video from April 19 that shows the accident in St. George. Credit: Lindsay Jarvis
Additionally, Johnson's defense team collected surveillance video from the neighborhood where the incident occurred, which Jarvis and Palmer say clearly shows their client making a left turn and two teens on scooters coming up at a high rate of speed in the dark and hitting the side of the vehicle.
The officer claimed that after the crash, "Julia had run from the accident screaming" and was found about five houses away, the affidavit states.
But Jarvis says her client, who lives on the street, was trying to get help.
"Multiple surveillance cameras capture Ms. Johnson frantically screaming, explaining she had just gotten into an accident. As this is occurring, residents begin exiting their homes to figure out what's going on. While Ms. Johnson is wailing in terror, a neighbor in her presence can be heard calling 911 to report the accident," she said.
"The scooters did not appear to be equipped with headlights, nor were the occupants of the scooters wearing reflective clothing. Additionally, video surveillance shows the scooters traveling at excessive speeds, at times moving faster than traffic on the roadway. While drivers are expected to yield to both oncoming traffic and pedestrians before making a left-hand turn, it would be unreasonable to expect a driver to yield to a motorized scooter that a driver could not" see, Jarvis and Palmer noted jointly.
She said it was a tragic accident that the high school senior was arrested for and booked into jail.
"She was tried and convicted in the court of public opinion, all of which resulted in significant emotional distress," Jarvis said. "This incident occurred the night before her senior prom. Rather than enjoying the final months of her senior year In high school, she was criminalized, and worried her freedom may again be taken away for the commission of crimes she didn't commit."
Correction: A 14-year-old boy and 14-year-old girl were hit. An earlier version incorrectly stated two boys were hit.
