Prosecutor Says ‘Cold-Blooded Killer’ Guilty of Thanksgiving Week Murder

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Dontae Johnson, 30, was absent from his family’s table on Thanksgiving in 2021. Instead, he was laid out on an autopsy table, where medical examiners announced the cause of his death was a bullet that pierced and exited his neck.

Kemonta Johnson, 29, stands accused and faces two charges each of first-degree murder and firearm use in a felony or violent crime. He was arrested on March 11, 2023 in connection to the premeditated murder of Dontae Johnson on Nov. 24, 2021, the day before Thanksgiving. The incident occurred in an alleyway that connects to the 1000 block of Appleton Street.

Prosecution and defense counsel gave closing statements on the fifth day of Kemonta Johnson’s jury trial on Feb. 6 and debated the legitimacy of admitted evidence, which includes cellphone records, a 9mm Ruger handgun recovered from the scene and Kemonta Johnson’s 2007 Chevrolet Uplander minivan.

Defense attorney Jason Rodriguez contested the validity of results from a March 9, 2023 microscopic examination and emphasized that the two assigned to analyze the handgun had “a disagreement” regarding their conclusions. Co-analyzers, he told the jury, are not required to repeat the same steps as initial examiners.

“It’s not science,” he said. “It’s not repeatable. There’s no standards.”

The prosecution claimed the opposite and urged the jury to heavily consider the microscopic and DNA evidence, the latter of which produced a 3.8 million likelihood that the DNA recovered from the handgun belonged to Kemonta Johnson.

“This isn’t a coincidence, ladies and gentlemen,” she told the jury. “This is science, and science doesn’t lie.”

Though examiners also recovered Kemonta Johnson’s suspected DNA from the handgun, Rodriguez claimed that the DNA could only verify that his client was in possession of the gun on the day of his arrest, not the day of the crime.

“That simply shows that Kemonta touched the gun on Nov. 30, not the 24th,” he told the jury.

Rodriguez also argued that his client lacks the characteristics stereotypical to a murderer, calling him “soft” and saying he does not possess the leadership skills necessary to plan a murder with others.

“Kemonta is a lot of things,” he said. “But he’s not that guy at all – no offense Kemonta. He’s not a ringleader.”

The prosecution’s rebuttal emphasized the brutality of the crime and pointed to blood trails that led two blocks from the scene of the incident. These, she said, corroborated the possibility that Dontae Johnson was “suffering” and “running for his life.”

“The state isn’t saying he’s a smart ‘cold-blooded killer,’” she said in reference to Rodriguez’s description of Kemonta Johnson. “Nothing he did was smart at all.”

Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Althea M. Handy presided over the hearing. The jury deliberates.