The prosecution’s chief witness took the stand Monday to begin her testimony in the Christopher Strawn trial.
Strawn is being retried in Juneau Superior Court on murder and other charges related to the death of Brandon Cook in October 2015.
The last trial ended in a mistrial last February.
Tiffany Johnson testified Monday how she purchased the trailer at C-16 Kodzoff Acres Trailer Park and had to clean and fix it up before she, her fiancé and her two children moved in.
Cook, a co-worker when they both worked at Walmart, and Strawn, a day laborer hired by the trailer park’s management, worked to remove garbage and old belongings, patch holes in the flooring, fix the malfunctioning furnace and repaint the interior.
All three were working together Oct. 20, 2015.
Johnson testified that Strawn left the trailer a few times that evening and came back fidgety and talking fast.
Johnson also said Strawn tried to ask her and Cook questions about God and going to church.
Later, Johnson and Cook were in opposite ends of the kitchen, each was essentially facing the far corners with their backs to the rest of the trailer. The water was running and the radio was on. This is what Johnson recalled what happened:
“All I hear is ‘F— it. There is no God. Sorry, I have to do this,'” Johnson testified. “And then I heard a big bang. And I remember jumping with my hands to my side. You know, there’s nothing in the trailer. It echoed really loud and I thought, my first initial thought was fireworks.”
Johnson said she turned to briefly look at Cook as he fell over backwards. Johnson testified that she turned further to look at Strawn behind Cook at the edge of the kitchen and glimpsed him holding a long gun like a shotgun or rifle, but it was held like a pistol.
Johnson said Strawn appeared to flee the trailer, and she grabbed her phone, ran to hide in the back bedroom with no lights, and called 911.
“I just remember the dispatcher trying to keep me calm, and kept telling me that ‘They’re en route. They’re en route,’” Johnson recalled. “In my mind, I felt like they were never going to get to me. I felt like they weren’t coming at all.”
Juneau Police Detective Benjamin Beck was a patrol officer working out of the downtown substation that night.
Beck testified that he and another officer arrived on scene to secure the trailer’s perimeter.
Beck said Johnson was crying, shaking and trembling, and still terrified when she emerged from the trailer.
“The thing that stuck out to me the most and remember the most is she was almost begging. ‘Just please, get me out of here. Get me out of here, please.’ I told her ‘You know, it’s OK, you’re surrounded by cops. You’re safe.’ She said ‘No, I’m not. Please, get me out of here. I have two babies. Please get me out of here.”
The next morning, Beck was part of the SWAT team executing a search warrant on Strawn’s trailer in the nearby Glacier View Trailer Park.
Strawn is representing himself during this trial.
During his cross examination, Strawn asked Beck why he didn’t bring his SWAT-issued night vision goggles to search for a suspect in the Kodzoff Acres area. It wasn’t exactly clear where Strawn was going with his questions. But Beck explained he usually didn’t keep the goggles in his patrol vehicle and Tiffany Johnson’s safety was the immediate priority.
He was a bit more blunt under additional questioning by the prosecution.
“It’s not worth it,” Beck said. “It’s not my priority to putz around in my car and search for a night vision.”
Beck’s immediate supervisor on that night, Sgt. Jeremy Weske, also testified only a total of five officers could immediately respond to the scene. That was not enough to simultaneously watch the trailer, check the rooms for a suspect, get Johnson out safely, secure the scene, and search the nearby woods for a suspect.
Strawn is expected to cross examine Johnson first thing Tuesday morning.
