YAKIMA, Wash. — A 28 year-old man arrested in the death of another man earlier this week at Harlan Landing near Selah is expected to make a preliminary appearance in Yakima County Superior Court today.
He was expected to appear Thursday afternoon, but the hearing was delayed when the suspect refused to cooperate with jailers.
The man, a convicted sex offender, told police he struck 54-year-old David Johnson in the head with a golf club after a brief confrontation Monday afternoon, according to a probable cause affidavit prepared by Yakima County Sheriff’s deputies. Johnson died later at a local hospital.
The suspect was arrested Tuesday by Union Gap police on suspicion of domestic violence, and was handed over to detectives with the sheriff’s office because he matched the description of a suspicious man seen at the scene of Johnson death, the affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, Johnson and his wife had been living in their 1994 Honda the past three months.
Johnson liked to hit golf balls and was doing so while his wife waited in the car. She went to look for him after she couldn’t see him from the car and found him on the ground bleeding from the head, the affidavit said.
An autopsy showed that Johnson died of a fractured skull. He was struck so hard that his brain shifted to the right side of his skull, causing his brain to bleed, the affidavit said.
Witnesses in the area told police they saw a man with dark skin and bushy hair wearing a navy blue jacket and baggy blue jeans in the area about the time of the incident, the affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, the man, who also is homeless, told police that Johnson got in his face and told him he was going to hell for his sins. The man said he then took the golf club from Johnson and struck him in the head, the affidavit said.
Police found the club, broken off at the end, at the scene, the affidavit said.
The suspect has a criminal history and is a level 3 sex offender, meaning he is at the highest risk of reoffending.
At age 17, he was convicted for indecent liberties.
And in March 2010, he was convicted twice of third-degree assault, one with sexual motivation for kissing and fondling a 7-year-old girl and the other for punching a corrections officer in the face at the Yakima County jail, according to court documents. ..Source.. by Phil Ferolito / Yakima Herald-Republic
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