Ark. school shooter again facing prison sentence

Jonesboro school shooter Mitchell Johnson could get as many as 30 years in prison for stealing a debit card and possessing marijuana, though his attorney says the slayings he committed as a 13-year-old should not be considered at sentencing.

Johnson pleaded guilty Tuesday in Benton County court to theft and financial identity fraud, both felonies, and to misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance. Last month he was sentenced to four years in prison on a federal weapons conviction.

Johnson and Andrew Golden, then 11, killed four pupils and a teacher at Westside Middle School near Jonesboro in 1998. Their ages limited the length of their incarcerations, and both were freed at age 21.

In the latest case, Johnson was accused of taking a debit card left by a disabled man at the gas station where he worked. Police said that when Johnson was arrested Feb. 2, he was in possession of marijuana.

Sentencing is set for Nov. 14. Benton County prosecutor Van Stone said he will seek the maximum sentence and may try to make the schoolyard slayings an issue under a new law that allows juveniles to be punished as adults once they serve their juvenile court sentence.

Johnson's lawyer, Scott McElveen, said Wednesday that he will argue that none of the crimes Johnson committed as a juvenile can factor into the punishment for his latest offenses. "It's inadmissible," he said.

Johnson's federal sentence, for possessing a firearm while being a user of or addicted to a controlled substance, was related to a New Year's Day traffic stop in 2007. He was convicted in that case days before he was arrested in the debit card theft.

In Johnson's federal sentencing, his lawyer argued that to go beyond the sentencing guidelines would amount to "re-sentencing" Johnson for the 1998 crimes. But the judge agreed to revise the sentence upward, finding enough "worrisome" about the current violations to warrant a tougher sentence.