Idaho
‘Hell on Earth’: Idaho prisoner sentenced for beating cellmate to death – East Idaho News
BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Hallie Johnson used to watch crime shows with her husband, where they’d debate whether the accused killer should face the death penalty. Her husband argued for a life sentence, saying they should have to stew. Prison was the punishment, he would tell her, while she favored execution.
Then her brother was killed.
Milo Warnock was incarcerated at the Idaho State Correctional Center, a minimum and medium security prison for driving under the influence, but was moved to restrictive housing for hiding medication, his family previously told the Idaho Statesman; the Warnocks said he was saving it for the morning because it was keeping him awake. There, he roomed with 33-year-old James Johnson, who beat him to death in December 2023.
Faced with the reality of losing a loved one, Hallie Johnson said she didn’t want to see Johnson killed.
“I’ve surprised myself by not wanting terrible things for this person who murdered my brother heinously,” Hallie said in an interview Friday at the Ada County Courthouse.
“You have to put aside all of your desire for retribution and spite, and think about what’s the best thing for the community as a whole,” Hallie told the Statesman. “That might be, in a lot of cases, treatment, and love, and kindness, and the things that make people better.”
Fourth Judicial District Judge Nancy Baskin sentenced James Johnson to life in prison Friday, with the possibility of parole after 35 years. That’s if he’s able to stay out of trouble and seek the rehabilitation advised by not only Baskin but his own attorney.
James Johnson’s public defender, Amy Smith, argued during the sentencing that her client’s childhood trauma and untreated mental illness led him to “snap” and kill Warnock. She asked that he receive a minimum of 15 years in prison, with an additional 25 years he could spend in prison, on parole or both.
“That is the only thing that can explain why they were friends up until a moment that happened, and then all of a sudden, at the next count, Milo was killed in a brutal and senseless way,” Smith said. “This is not the work of a cognizant individual who planned a murder.”
James Johnson disputed that. In an over 15-minute-long rambling statement, which was at times incomprehensible, he denied any claim that he was mentally ill or that his abusive childhood factored into his mindset.
“All I’m saying is, you can’t paint a picture and say call it a mental illness,” he said. “I’m telling right now. The facts are, I killed Milo, and I regret it.”
James Johnson was serving a five-year sentence for fraud and grand theft and was scheduled to be released in February. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in January, and as a part of the plea deal, the prosecution agreed to dismiss an additional felony against him for destruction of evidence.
Hallie Johnson told the Statesman she hoped James Johnson found his purpose in life. The decades Johnson would spend in prison won’t be the punishment for the “goodness he’s stolen,” she said, but she hoped he found the strength and maturity to “tame his demons” and give kindness to others.
“This is how he will repay me for what he had no right to take,” she said in court.
Warnock’s family filed tort against IDOC
Warnock’s family remembered him as a talented working man who had a good heart. His parents also spoke during the sentencing and in their statements expressed the pain of losing their son and anger with the Idaho Department of Correction for housing their him with James Johnson.
His family has filed a nearly $500,000 tort claim against the Idaho Department of Correction, its private medical provider and several employees. They have until December 2025 to file a lawsuit. Kathy Warnock, his mother, said he didn’t stand a chance.
Milo spent his last hours in anguish as James threatened him, and died in the “presence of evil, in that evil place,” Kathy said, referring to the prison. “No one in that hell on Earth had enough humanity to help him,” she said in court. “James committed the ultimate act of violence, but as bad as he is, he’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Milo’s father, Mike Warnock, said his son ended up being James’ cellmate because of “incompetent prison management.”
Hallie Johnson said James Johnson robbed her and her siblings of a brother, her parents of a son, her nephew of a father, and her son of an uncle. She told the Statesman that it “really hurts” to lose a loved one, and she couldn’t reconcile seeking the death penalty against someone who also has family that loves him.
“James had family here today,” she said. “He has people who care about him and love him. I can’t reconcile how I could say, ‘You killed my brother. Murder is wrong. You should die.’”
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For the second year in a row, House lawmakers will consider urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
The nonbinding resolution, which carries no legal weight, says the decision in Obergefel v. Hodges violates the longstanding religious definition of marriage between one man and one woman.
“The current definition of marriage that allows for same-sex marriages is a defilement of the word marriage,” said Rep. Tony Wisniewski (R-Post Falls), who sponsors the measure.
The resolution further states that the Obergefel decision “arbitrarily and unjustly” rejects the historical definition of marriage.
Idaho voters passed a constitution amendment in 2006 that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, which was invalidated by the Obergefel ruling.
Wisniewski said regulating marriages should be a power left to the states.
Rep. Brent Crane (R-Nampa) agrees.
“If you want to get things … closer to the people with respect to some of these more complex social issues, I think the best place for those things to happen is in the states,” Crane said.
Doing so is a risk, he said.
“You may have states that choose to acknowledge [polyamorous relationships]. You may have states that choose to have relationships between adults and younger children,” Crane said.
Cities in neighboring Oregon and Washington, for example, are considering giving those in polyamorous relationships legal recognition.
But he said that risk is worth it to allow other states that choose to only recognize traditional marriages.
Four lawmakers on the House State Affairs Committee opposed the resolution.
Rep. Erin Bingham (R-Idaho Falls) said she’s tried to balance her own religious beliefs with those of others while considering the measure.
“I do feel like that it is important for us to work together, to find ways to compromise and to live together in peace and mutual respect,” Bingham said.
The resolution now goes to the House floor for consideration.
House lawmakers last year passed a similar measure, but it never received a hearing in a Senate committee.
Copyright 2026 Boise State Public Radio
Idaho
University of Idaho professor awarded $10M after TikTok tarot influencer claimed she ‘ordered’ quadruple murders
A University of Idaho professor won a $10 million judgment after a tarot TikTok influencer publicly pushed false claims that she was behind the savage quadruple slayings of four college students.
A Boise jury in US District Court ordered fortune-telling Texas TikToker Ashley Guillard on Friday to pay $10 million after concluding she falsely accused professor Rebecca Scofield of having a secret romance with one of the four victims and orchestrating their killings, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Following the verdict, Scofield thanked the jury and said she hopes the case sends a clear warning that making “false statements online have consequences in the real world.”
“The murders of the four students on November 13, 2022, were the darkest chapter in our university’s history,” Scofield told Fox News.
“Today’s decision shows that respect and care should always be granted to victims during these tragedies. I am hopeful that this difficult chapter in my life is over, and I can return to a more normal life with my family and the wonderful Moscow community.”
Scofield, the university’s history department chair, filed the lawsuit in December 2022 — just weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were brutally stabbed to death at an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.
Guillard began uploading videos to her more than 100,000 TikTok followers in late November 2022, accusing Scofield of a secret relationship with one of the students and claiming she had “ordered” the killings, garnering millions of views across the social media platform.
The complaint states that Scofield had never met the victims and was out of state when the murders occurred.
Even after being served with cease-and-desist letters and after police publicly confirmed Scofield had no connection to the murders, the Houston-based tarot reader continued posting videos, the history professor’s legal team argued.
Guillard doubled down on her accusations against Scofield after being sued, posting a defiant video saying, “I am not stopping,” and challenging why Scofield needed three lawyers to sue her “if she’s so innocent.”
The professor’s legal team argued the defamatory accusations painted her as a criminal and accused her of professional misconduct that could derail her career.
Bryan Kohberger, then studying criminology at Washington State University, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to the quadruple murders in a deal that took the death penalty off the table. He is currently serving four consecutive life sentences in Idaho.
In June 2024, Chief US Magistrate Judge Raymond Patricco found Guillard’s statements legally defamatory, leaving damages to be decided by a jury.
During the damages trial, Scofield described the anguish of seeing her name tied to the murders online, the Idaho Statesman reported.
However, Guillard, acting as her own attorney, insisted her comments were simply beliefs based on tarot card readings.
She claimed to have psychic powers and testified that she relied on tarot cards to try to solve the shocking homicides that shook the rural college town and sparked global attention.
It took jurors less than two hours to return their verdict, the outlet reported.
The jury awarded Scofield $7.5 million in punitive damages in addition to $2.5 million in compensatory damages.
With Post wires
BOISE, Idaho — AAA is warning Idaho gas consumers that pump prices will likely rise as the conflict in Iran disrupts oil and gas supply chains worldwide.
The ongoing turmoil in the Middle East will likely push the price for a gallon of regular gasoline past the $3 mark over the coming days.
“On one hand, the crude oil market had time to account for some financial risk in the Middle East as forces mobilized, but a supply shortage somewhere affects the global picture,” says AAA Idaho public affairs director Matthew Conde. “If tankers can’t move products through the region, there could be ripple effects.”
On Monday, March 2, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is $2.97, reports AAA, which is 12 cents more expensive than it was a month ago but 20 cents less than this time last year.
State / Price: 1 gallon of regular gasoline
- Washington / $4.37
- Oregon / $3.92
- Nevada / $3.70
- Idaho / $2.97
- Colorado / $2.89
- Montana / $2.82
- Utah / $2.74
- Wyoming / $2.73
In terms of the most expensive fuel in the nation, Idaho currently ranks #14. However, buying a gallon of regular gas in neighboring states such as Oregon and Washington could cost a whole dollar more. In contrast, gas prices in Utah, Montana, and Wyoming are anywhere between 15 to 24 cents cheaper than fuel in the Gem State.
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