HOPEWELL, Va. — A year and a half after former Hopewell police officer and former candidate for sheriff Kevin Johnson allegedly assaulted an 8-year-old child in school, Johnson went before a judge.
“It’s over," Johnson told CBS 6 Thursday when asked about the outcome of the hearing.
At the center of the case is an incident that happened Aug. 11, 2022, at Hopewell's Harry James Elementary School where Johnson was a teaching assistant.
According to police reports and surveillance footage obtained by CBS 6, Johnson appeared to strike a child's head, chase after him with a cane, and grab his neck and jerk him which appeared to cause the boy's head to hit a wall.
Johnson then walked the child down the hall with his hands around the boy's neck.
According to internal school reports, the child reported neck pain and was seen by a nurse. There were no visible marks.
The school's principal completed an incident report and found that Johnson's physical restraint of the student was not permitted or justified by the child's behavior.
The child's mom, Michele Simpson, along with Hopewell police and some prosecutors with the Hopewell Commonwealth's Attorney Office, agreed that the incident rose to the level of a criminal assault.
So, on Aug. 23, 2022, Johnson was charged with assault.
However, a couple months later, Hopewell Commonwealth's Attorney Rick Newman dropped the charge without telling Simpson. She had to learn through a detective.
"He tells me, it's been nolle pressed and he was just as in shock as I was," Simpson said.
CBS 6 asked Newman why he dropped the charge, and he declined to answer.
Frustrated with Newman's decision, Simpson decided to petition a magistrate herself to have the charge reinstated against Johnson, to which a magistrate agreed.
Johnson was charged again in August 2023.
After CBS 6 reported on Simpson's concerns with the handling of the case, it was then assigned to a special prosecutor – Colonial Heights Commonwealth's Attorney Gray Collins, who moved the case forward.
“If it weren’t for the media getting in it, then it probably would’ve went where it went before," Simpson said. "Nowhere."
During an adjudicatory hearing on Thursday, Johnson entered an Alford plea which means he acknowledged the evidence against him was sufficient to find him guilty — but he still claimed innocence.
Collins asked the judge to defer disposition, because Johnson had agreed to complete community service and anger management courses through Veterans Affairs. Collins did not request that a certain number of hours be completed for either.
"Why did you enter the Alford plea? Were you admitting that the evidence showed that you were guilty?" reporter Tyler Layne asked Johnson following the hearing.
"Of course not. No," Johnson said.
"Well, that's what an Alford plea means correct?" Layne said.
"OK," Johnson said.
"Is there anything you wanted to say?" Layne asked.
"I'm not going to say anything that speaks bad against the child," Johnson responded.
Though Simpson was unable to attend court Thursday, she said she was satisfied with the outcome and that the case "went through the right steps" the second time around.
"What still blows me is how [Rick] Newman just did that and got away with it," Simpson said about the Hopewell prosecutor's initial decision to drop the charge.
Johnson will come back to court in December for the dispositional hearing after he completes the community service and anger management courses.
At that time, the judge will likely dismiss the charge.
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