
Charges of first-degree murder have been dismissed against a 16-year-old teen accused of killing his grandparents.
16-year-old Joseph Johnson was charged with two counts of first-degree murder or second-degree in the alternative last week after being certified to stand trial as an adult. Johnson is accused of shooting his grandparents James and Beverly Johnson who he lived with.
The Buchanan County Prosecutor’s office announced Friday that the office has agreed to dismiss the charge of murder in the first degree and to offer Johnson the opportunity to plead without sentencing recommendations to two counts of murder in the second degree. The plea was part of a statement made in court Friday by Johnson’s attorney and stated that the prosecutor’s office has also agreed not to file additional charges while the offer is outstanding.

The plea deal comes after a Johnson appeared in court for a preliminary hearing Friday and waived his rights to the hearing.
According to Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Scroggins the U.S. Supreme Court does not allow for the death penalty to be sought for a juvenile even after being certified as an adult. Also, Scorggins said the law requires cases involving a juvenile to have alternative sentences including life with the possibility of parole. First-Degree murder only offers the option of the death penalty or life without parole.
Second-degree murder offers several alternatives including life with the possibility of parole.
In court documents officials say Johnson was stopped in Platte County for invalid plates displayed on his grandfather’s car. According to the affidavit, officials learned the suspect told an acquaintance on the phone he believed he had murdered his grandparents. Both were subsequently found fatally shot at their home at 8610 Hurlingen Road.
In the court affidavit, Lieutenant Collie said the defendant had approximately $600 on him, along with extra clothes, and a credit card belonging to his grandparents, and was carrying directions to Louisville Kentucky with him when he was arrested. He was just 30 to 40 minutes away from the crime scene when he was stopped.