A Louisiana man has been found guilty of first-degree murder for torturing and killing 34-year-old Janice David. David was found naked with her body tied to the steering wheel of a car in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on April 18, 2022, according to authorities.
Earl Johnson, 39, her killer, recorded himself severely stabbing her on Instagram Live, the court heard throughout the trial last week. According to reports, hundreds of online viewers watched the murder.
According to The Advocate, Johnson took David captive in his car on the day of the incident and hit her with a tire iron. He allegedly tied her up with jumper cables before torturing and stabbing her 42 times.
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According to The Advocate and WAFB, an East Baton Rouge jury convicted Johnson of first-degree murder in connection with the live-streamed killing on September 12.
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According to the publications, Johnson entered a not guilty plea due to insanity.
His attorney, Hafiz Folami, said Johnson and his victim went on a drug-fueled, days-long spree prior to the murder, WAFB reported.
He cited Johnson’s post-murder behavior, “the erratic speech” and “the waiting on police to come get him,” as evidence that his client had a “severe mental defect.”
“You have to think to yourself, what normal person does something like this,” Public Defender Falomi said during his closing arguments Friday afternoon. “Mr. Johnson suffered from a severe mental defect on the day of this incident. What normal person does that?”
Several mental health doctors, however, determined that Johnson was sane at the time of the incident. Prosecutors emphasized their stance that Johnson “knew exactly what he was doing” when he stabbed, beat and burned the victim to death, and he knew it was wrong.
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During closing arguments, state’s attorney Dana Cummings said that Johnson was heard stating during the Instagram Live recording: “She was going to say I raped her, they’re going to believe her over me. If I’m going down, I’m going to live forever.”
According to media reports, the jury saw the entire 16-minute video.
“I have never said that man is not normal,” Cummings said, pointing to the defendant, as she presented her rebuttal to Folami. “We know he’s not normal. What I’ve said is he isn’t insane.”
“I did not create this evidence; he did. And he wanted everyone to see it because he wanted to be famous and he wanted his son to be famous,” Cummings said in court, per WAFB.
After the verdict, East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore remarked outside the courthouse, “For this killing to be posted live on Instagram for everybody to see was very alarming. This was a young girl — the victim — who was down on her luck at that time in her life and just happened to run into a monster. And unfortunately, she paid the consequences.”
Johnson is now set to be sentenced in December.
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