Judge accepts former North Dakota Highway Patrol trooper’s guilty plea in sexual assault case

BISMARCK — A former North Dakota Freeway Patrol trooper acquired one 12 months of unsupervised probation after pleading responsible to a disorderly conduct cost by which prosecutors say he inappropriately touched a lady.

Steven Johnson was charged with sexual assault final November for allegedly touching a lady with out her consent at a celebration in a Bismarck residence in December 2020.

The North Dakota Freeway Patrol fired Johnson after the sexual assault cost was filed final November.

The previous Freeway Patrol lieutenant oversaw patrols in southwest North Dakota and was a part of the governor’s safety element.

On Friday, April 22, hours earlier than Johnson was scheduled to have a closing dispositional listening to forward of his Could jury trial, South Central District Court docket Choose James Hill accepted a plea settlement for a lesser disorderly conduct cost, in keeping with court docket filings.

Hill beforehand rejected a plea settlement for the cost in February.

The brand new plea settlement states Johnson pleads responsible to disorderly conduct and can obtain a 360-day deferred imposition of sentence which comes with one 12 months of unsupervised probation and a $250 tremendous. Roughly two months after Johnson’s probation ends, the responsible plea can be withdrawn and the case taken off his document.

The brand new settlement states that in December 2020, Johnson and a bunch of associates have been socializing at his residence. All of them have been in a sizzling tub, besides the sufferer who was laying down by herself on Johnson’s sofa.

“Whereas she was mendacity on the couch, (Johnson) reached over the sofa and rubbed her neckline, arm, right down to the underside of her ribcage, throughout her abdomen and again up,” the settlement states. The girl made a sound and subsequently pushed his hand away and Johnson “instantly stopped all bodily contact,” in keeping with the settlement.

In court docket filings, prosecutor Katie Nechiporenko mentioned she had been involved with the girl, who agreed to the situations of the brand new plea deal, stating the prosecution and the sufferer “imagine that this settlement is a suitable and passable end result for the case.”

Ryan Younggren, a particular assistant state’s legal professional prosecuting the case, informed The Discussion board the permitted plea settlement was “center floor” for each Johnson and the prosecution.

“It was reached after a lot dialogue and negotiation and in addition taking into consideration the uncertainties of a trial and in addition spending vital time with the sufferer on this matter,” Younggren mentioned, including that the girl was consulted all through your complete case.

He mentioned dropping the preliminary sexual assault cost was a part of the plea negotiation course of, including that in circumstances akin to this one trials could be difficult for victims.

“Trial isn’t at all times one of the best ways to resolve a case,” Younggren mentioned.

In February, Johnson and prosecutors reached a plea settlement for a lesser cost of disorderly conduct — a Class B misdemeanor. Nonetheless, Hill rejected the plea settlement. Underneath this primary disorderly conduct plea settlement, Johnson admitted to “touching (the girl’s) arm and neck in try to wake her up,” however Hill mentioned these actions didn’t meet the definition of “reckless” underneath North Dakota’s disorderly conduct statute and rejected the plea settlement.

Johnson’s legal professional, Chris Redmann, didn’t instantly reply to The Discussion board’s request for remark.

Readers can attain Discussion board reporter Michelle Griffith, a Report for America corps member, at mgriffith@forumcomm.com.