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The Utah Supreme Court on Friday denied a petition for post-conviction relief from a man serving up to life in prison for fatally stabbing 14-year-old Christopher Mosier at a Taylorsville apartment in 1993.
Terry Louis Johnson, 50, asked the high court to reconsider a first-degree felony murder sentence handed down by a 3rd District judge in 2004.
Mosier's slaying went unsolved for years until prosecutors charged Johnson in 2002, after blood evidence from the Dec. 30, 1993, slaying was retested using improved DNA technology. The Board of Pardons and Parole has set Johnson's parole hearing for January 2027. At that point, he will be 65 years old and will have served 25 years in prison.
Johnson's attorney, Michael Studebaker, argued to the high court that Johnson's previous counsel was ineffective. Johnson claimed his attorney in 2004 failed to call witnesses to rebut DNA testimony provided by a state expert.
But the Supreme Court, in an opinion released Friday, denied the petition, ruling that lower courts properly dismissed Johnson's previous appeals to have his sentence overturned.
"Because Mr. Johnson's petition for post-conviction relief relied upon claims that were either previously adjudicated, frivolous or procedurally barred, his petition was improper," wrote Chief Justice Christine Durham.
At Johnson's 2004 trial, he claimed Christopher — who was helping his mother by baby-sitting Johnson's infant son — was alive and well when Johnson picked up the child from Christopher's apartment the night of the murder. But the DNA testing proved the baby's blanket — which Johnson took with him — was spotted with Christopher's blood.
Defense attorneys in 2004 claimed the bloodstain was old and degraded in comparison to other blood evidence. They argued Christopher's DNA could have been put there days, or even weeks, before he was killed.
Defense attorney John O'Connell contended Christopher could have been killed by gang members, schoolmates or his mother's boyfriend.
Prosecutor Katherine Bernards-Goodman argued in 2004 that Johnson's drug problem contributed to his actions.
She said the Christopher was clutching diapers in his hands when his mother returned from work to find him dead on the floor of her bedroom.
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