Alleged incident 12 years ago admitted into lewdness trial

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Monday, Dec. 6, 2004 | 9:25 a.m.

District Judge Donald Mosley has ruled that testimony of a former student of Duane Johnson about alleged incidents 12 years ago in Utah could be introduced at his June 6 trial of charges of lewdness with a minor.

Johnson was arrested in March 2001 for what prosecutors have called "bumping" his hand and arm into the breast of a 13-year-old girl at Child Haven, a Clark County facility that houses neglected and abused children.

Johnson was one of the instructors the Clark County School District provided for the facility.

Mosley heard testimony from two women whom Johnson coached in softball in 1992 at Provo (Utah) High School, but the jury that ultimately hears the case will hear only of his alleged conduct pertaining to a then freshman girl who lived with Johnson for two months after her mother kicked her out of the house.

The then 15-year-old girl took the stand and said Johnson would touch her breasts and crotch outside of her clothing "whenever possible, whenever we were alone." She said it often occurred while driving in the car with Johnson or when Johnson's wife and two children were in other areas of the house.

She said Johnson never touched her at school.

Johnson's attorney, Bill Terry, questioned her truthfulness, saying the reason her mother kicked her out of her house was because she was "one who is not truthful." The girl, with her head slanted away from Johnson, admitted she was kicked out "for lying."

Terry also said the girl did not report the allegations to the police, which she said was because she "didn't want to cooperate with the police at that time."

Mosley ruled that although the crime alleged against Johnson in the case before him wasn't exactly like the acts alleged by Johnson's former softball player, he allowed the testimony into trial, saying that the incident seemed to show a history of "someone in an authoritative position who has a propensity to touch young girls and have a relationship with them."

A Clark County jury will not be told of another relationship Johnson had with a girl he first coached in softball and basketball and later had a sexual relationship with. That relationship resulted in a child.

The then 18-year-old girl said her relationship with Johnson began with them just being "good friends." She said they would go out to eat after basketball games and then go and "park and talk." Ultimately their relationship would grow into "hugging and kissing" and then sex.

Under Terry's questioning she stressed the relationship was a "consensual situation," which is why she never reported anything inappropriate to the police.

Johnson was later fired by Provo High School because of the relationship.

Mosley ruled that since the relationship was consensual and didn't involve the specific groping alleged by the other alleged victim, he would not admit it into the case as a prior bad act.