By Steve Marroni
The Evening Sun
YORK, Pa. — The state trooper who interviewed Christopher L. Johnson as he was being transported to York Hospital after allegedly killing a game warden testified Tuesday that Johnson admitted to the shooting.
And during the second day of Johnson’s trial in Adams County court, District Attorney Shawn Wagner played for the jury a recording of Johnson’s conversation with Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Neal Navitsky.
In the recording, Johnson details his account of the Nov. 11, 2010, incident that left Wildlife Conservation Officer David L. Grove dead.
In the recording, Johnson said that Grove had pulled him over, and he got out of the truck, and backed up with his hands behind his head as directed.
But when Grove put a handcuff on his right wrist, Johnson said, he panicked, thinking that he did not want to go back to jail for carrying a prohibited firearm.
“I just don’t want to go back,” he said.
Johnson jerked his arm, and Grove drew his weapon and fired, which started the gunfight, Johnson said. He wasn’t trying to hit Grove, Johnson told Navitsky. He said he was just firing at the ground and in the air to try to get the officer to go away.
Johnson said in the recording that he fled the scene after being shot.
Navitsky asked him in the recording, “You understand you shot at an officer last night?” and Johnson said, “Yeah, it was a game warden, but still an officer, yeah.”
Johnson said he regretted his actions, and wanted to shake Grove’s hand, if he’d let him, and tell him he was doing things right, and by the book, according to the recorded interview.
Johnson said that as he walked through the night, his thoughts kept going back to Grove. Did he have a wife? A family? He inquired twice in the ambulance about Grove’s condition, and Navitsky told him he didn’t know, according to testimony.
Navitsky also testified that when police apprehended Johnson at an Orrtanna Road hunting cabin the morning after the shooting, they found shells from a .45-caliber handgun, which was the same kind of gun used to shoot Grove. They also found a paper target in the shape of a human silhouette.
Navitsky said the target bore a tight grouping of three shots in the chest-area. Those shots, Johnson told Navitsky, had been made at 35 yards as he practiced his marksmanship at the homemade gun range at the cabin, according to testimony.
But on cross examination, defense attorney William Miele asked Navitsky if Johnson had made those shots with lights in his face, or while the target was moving and shooting at him, as was the case in the shootout with Grove. He also asked Navitsky about some of Johnson’s statements in the interview.
“Did he tell you he was shooting at Grove, trying to kill him?” he asked.
“No,” Navitsky answered.
“Did he ever say he intended to kill Grove,” Miele asked.
“No,” Navitsky answered again.
Chief Public Defender Kristin Rice had told the jury during her opening arguments Monday that Johnson did shoot and kill Grove, but that there had been no premeditation or intent. It’s the issue of intent that elevates the murder charge to first-degree murder, which is punishable by either life in prison without parole, or death.
The condition Johnson was in when he spoke to Navitsky was also at issue Tuesday. The York Hospital trauma physician who took care of him, Dr. Kern Hughes, testified for the prosecution that Johnson was coherent and alert, and there were no signs of hypothermia or dehydration when he examined him.
On cross-examination, though, Rice pointed out that Johnson arrived at the hospital after he had warm fluids injected into his body through an IV, and he had been in a heated ambulance for about an hour.
Also on Tuesday, the prosecution entered into evidence a mannequin wearing a wildlife conservation officer’s uniform, but it was wearing a replica jacket, not the bloodied one that Grove had worn.
In the lead-up to trial, Rice objected to the jury seeing the bloody jacket with Grove’s nametag, saying it could unduly sway the jury.
The prosecution instead is using the replica jacket, but will be using Grove’s torn pants. The evidence was entered Tuesday, and may possibly be used in later testimony.
The prosecution also showed the jury photos of Grove’s SUV, which had several bullet holes in it, including one above the driver’s side wheel, two in the driver’s side door, and one through the rear bumper on the same side. The side mirror was also damaged from roughly two or three shots, state Trooper Michael Weaver testified.
Testimony during the trial’s first day on Monday indicated that Grove was shot four times, with the final shot fired into the back of his head. Johnson, who fled the scene, had been struck twice - once in the hip, and the other bullet was deflected by a cell phone and knife he was carrying.
Rice said evidence at trial will show that Grove fired first and that two of the wounds he sustained were fired from his own gun.
The trial is slated to last about two weeks. Johnson faces charges of murder in the first and third degrees, persons not to possess firearms, flight to avoid apprehension, firearms not to be carried without a license, possessing an instrument of crime, resisting or interfering with an officer, unlawful use of lights while hunting, and unlawful taking of big game.
Republished with permission from the Evening Sun