The prosecution’s chief witness in the Christopher Strawn homicide case resumed her testimony on Monday, recalling how her friend was killed just several feet away from her in the kitchen of her new home.
Strawn is facing multiple charges related to the death of Brandon Cook. His trial entered the sixth day on Monday.
Tiffany Johnson testified about the night of Oct. 20, 2015, when she, Cook and Strawn worked on her trailer at C16 Kodzoff Acres. She had just put a down payment on the trailer, and she needed to make it livable for her fiancé and her two children.
The interior of the trailer featured an open floor plan between the kitchen and living room. The kitchen was slightly elevated by two steps from the living room and separated by a low counter or eating bar.
Strawn had left the trailer a few times earlier in the evening and Johnson testified that he returned acting strange, fidgety, and not looking at their eyes. Johnson and Cook communicated non-verbally that it was time to wrap up work for the night.
Johnson was working in one far corner of the kitchen while Cook was washing a paint sprayer in the sink in the other corner about 7 feet away. Both had their backs turned to the living room. Johnson testified that she did not hear Strawn come back into the trailer because the sink was running and a radio was on.
“I didn’t hear him come in,” Johnson said. “All I heard was ‘F— it. There is no God.’ And then I heard a really loud boom and I jumped up. I was slowly turning to my right and I saw Brandon looking at me and he fell straight back and he bounced off the floor. And then I looked over and I saw Chris. I was screaming, ‘What did you do?’ And he was just standing there. And then I looked back down at Brandon and I could tell he was gone.”
Johnson testified that she saw Strawn holding a firearm in his right hand while his left hand went to his head and he exclaimed, “What have I done?” Strawn appeared to leave the trailer while Johnson grabbed her cell phone, hid in a back bedroom, and called 911.
“What was going through your mind while you were waiting?” asked Assistant District Attorney Amy Paige.
“All kinds of things,” answered Johnson. “I thought my kids were gonna grow up without having a mom. I thought he was going to come back and kill me. I just had so many emotions and feelings, just thoughts in my head, thinking I was next.”
“What was it like waiting there so long for the police to come?” asked Paige.
“It was horrible. I felt like they were never going to get to me, or they get to me too late.”
Police officers converged on the scene, carefully searched the trailer and surrounding area, and then escorted Johnson out of the trailer within 22 minutes of her calling 911.
Other testimony on Monday
Detective Sterling Salisbury of the Juneau Police Department described canvassing the neighborhood around Johnson’s trailer on the evening that Cook was killed, and then executing search warrants on Johnson’s trailer and Strawn’s trailer in the Glacier View trailer park. Wet pants and boots, and a spent shotgun shell were discovered in Strawn’s trailer, but no shotgun was found.
Shirley McCoy of Alpha Diversified Services described how they entered into a contract with Johnson to take ownership of the trailer at C16 Kodzoff Acres and how they planned to reimburse her to repair the damage and clean up the mess left by the previous owners. She also described how Strawn sometimes did maintenance or handyman work to help pay back what he owed on his own trailer at No. 35 Glacier View trailer park.
Jury down to 12
Another juror was excused on Monday after she reported that she had been pulled over for driving while intoxicated on Saturday afternoon. The juror’s blood alcohol content was allegedly 0.295, or over three times the legal driving limit 0.08 for intoxication.
The juror asked that she get time off from the trial to attend her own first hearing this week on the driving while intoxicated charge. Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg determined the juror’s preoccupation with her problems could affect her judgment during the trial. She was excused from the case.
There are now four women and eight men on the jury with no alternates left.
Mystery weapon not part of Strawn case
Defense investigators were able to check out the report submitted to prosecutors last Thursday about the apparent discovery of the murder weapon allegedly used to kill Brandon Cook.
“It appears that this particular firearm has absolutely nothing to do with the case and the defense does not intend to use any of that information,” said defense attorney Eve Soutiere. “I have relayed that message to my client and we discussed that, as well, on Sunday.”
After getting blindsided by the report, Soutiere had asked for the entire trial day on Friday to trace the weapon and check out its current and former owners.
Extended trial days
Trial days currently run from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., but they will be extended by 2½ hours starting on Wednesday. The trial is already behind schedule, and the prosecution says they have witnesses flying in from out of state to testify just on Wednesday.
