Attorney: Killing a suspect was not a ‘cautious trial’

NEW ORLEANS – An attorney for the man accused of fatally shooting the alleged killer of his 18-year-old son and 25-year-old daughter has denied the incident was a matter for “careful trial.”

Bokio b. Johnson, 46, was arrested Friday in connection with the death of 21-year-old Hollis Carter, who was fatally shot while driving to a pre-trial hearing Wednesday, New Orleans police said. A woman was also injured.

New Orleans police say Carter admitted to injuring 25-year-old Brianna Brown and her half-brother Caleb Johnson, 18, and a third person in a gun sale last March.

Following Carter’s death, Bokio Johnson has now been charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder, but his attorney, Michael Kennedy, said “people have reached a conclusion.”

“While it is admittedly true that the victim was charged with the murder of Johnson’s son and daughter in March 2021, this does not indicate that it is a matter of careful trial, especially in a city like New Orleans,” Kennedy wrote in a statement.

“If and when the state of Louisiana chooses to indict Mr. Johnson, I can say without question, we will stand together and answer loud and clear, ‘not guilty,'” Kennedy wrote.

Kennedy said her client was a husband, a “local businessman” and the father of two young children. “It’s reckless to think of (Johnson) as something else right now,” he said.

Carter, who was released on 375,000 bond, was in court Wednesday for a status hearing on two counts of second-degree murder and one count of second-degree attempted murder. Police said he was shot while his car was waiting at a stop light.

Carter’s defense attorney, John Fuller, told The Times-Picayun / The New Orleans Advocate that he planned to argue in court that Carter’s confession was false and that it was done because he feared the real killer.