CHP officer who claimed self-defense in shooting death of husband charged with his murder

Nearly two years after Tomiekia Johnson killed Marcus Lavar Lemons, officials are charging her with murder

Tomiekia Johnson and Marcus Lavar Lemons on their wedding day just over four years ago. Johnson was arrested Tuesday and charged with Lemons' Feb. 21, 2009, murder.

COMPTON—Almost two years after Tomiekia Johnson shot and killed her husband under suspicious circumstances, the California Highway Patrol officer has been charged with his murder.

The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department arrested Johnson, a Compton resident, yesterday at the CHP office where she had been working on desk duty since the February 2009 incident, the Los Angeles Times reports. She is charged with murdering her husband, 31-year-old Marcus Lavar Lemons.

Johnson, 31, who has worked for the CHP since 2002, shot her husband in the head shortly after the couple left T.G.I. Friday’s at Gateway Towne Center on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009. The couple had stopped the car during a heated argument, and Johnson claimed she shot Lemons in self-defense after he had become physically and verbally abusive.

The Compton Bulletin in April 2009 reported that his family members and friends believed Johnson was lying from the get-go. They described Lemons as a man who was always calm and collected, never got really angry or upset and had never been known to put his hands on a woman.

It was Johnson, some of the couple’s friends said, who was abusive toward Lemons. They alleged that she is an alcoholic whom Lemons had described to friends as often belligerent. Others who knew the couple cited her as aggressive, saying that she on numerous occasions pulled guns on Lemons. In one instance, she reportedly threatened to kill him if he ever tried to leave her, according to The Bulletin. She was also said to have once fired a gun into the air outside of the barbershop where Lemons worked.

Johnson lied to detectives when she said she’d shot the father of the couple’s then-18-month-old daughter, Nevaeh Savannah, on Amantha Avenue, where her parents reside. She actually shot him near the Carl’s Jr. in the 1900 block of West Artesia Boulevard at Central Avenue adjacent to the 91 Freeway, detectives said.

Instead of immediately calling 911, the off-duty CHP officer proceeded to drive just under a mile to her parents’ home with her dead husband’s body sitting in the passenger seat next to her, according to various 2009 news reports.

Deputy District Attorney Natalie Adomian told the Times that it was Johnson’s parents who called 911.

Sources told the Nitty Gritty that when the Sheriff’s Department arrived at Johnson’s parents’ home, CHP officers were already on the scene, suggesting the CHP officers present might have been contacted prior to 911 being called.

The Times is also reporting that Johnson was lying when she said she shot Lemons inside the vehicle. Forensic evidence illustrates that she was outside of the car when she pulled the trigger.

Many in the community who knew the couple were outraged that Johnson was not initially arrested, with some believing she was receiving special treatment and hiding behind her badge. Detectives working the case, however, refuted such claims.

“In fact, she’s subject to greater scrutiny” because of her employment as a sworn law enforcement officer, Lt. Dave Coleman told The Bulletin in April 2009.

Coleman was one of six detectives assigned to the case, with a pair each being assigned to one of the three crime scenes. Their probe lasted roughly a year, and further investigation and scrutiny by the D.A.’s office took another year, which is why murder charges have only now been filed, according to the Times.

Lemons’ brother, Alonzo Lemons, told the Times he was both shocked and relieved when detectives notified him that Johnson had been taken into custody and charged with his brother’s brutal slaying.

“I was kind of in shock. It has been almost two years now,” he told the Times. “It won’t bring him back. It was sad anyway it goes. They have a child together. Now that child is without a mother and a father.”

Johnson met Lemons, an avid bowler who was locally well-known for having won several amateur bowling tournaments, at a bowling alley in Lakewood. The pair were married just over four years ago. Besides the couple’s daughter, Lemons left behind a then-13-year-old son from a previous relationship.

Johnson was being held Tuesday on $2 million bail.