AJ Johnson Update [verdict: NOT guilty]

[gunner]

The entire "cell phone text information" fiasco appears to me to be a travesty of justice. Why that evidence was not allowed to be admitted before it "disappeared" is a complete mystery.....

Like others...I have no clue what happened...but these girls look like anything to me except innocent victims....What were they hiding and why did they want to deny the court a transparent view to their text messages if they weren't trying to hide something?

And the defendants do have an equal right to justice in our courts....and no one is allowed to weaken that right either.

I am an investigator and I have some experience with retrieving text messages. Unfortunately, unless a preservation letter is sent to the cell phone companies within a few days the messages are lost forever. Verizon seems to be one of the only companies that keeps them for any length of time. The best way to get this evidence is from the device but in this case it's sounds like that wasn't possible.

 

[davethevol]

I am an investigator and I have some experience with retrieving text messages. Unfortunately, unless a preservation letter is sent to the cell phone companies within a few days the messages are lost forever. Verizon seems to be one of the only companies that keeps them for any length of time. The best way to get this evidence is from the device but in this case it's sounds like that wasn't possible.

But who ditches a phone without backing it up at least for the pictures? These girls are lying. They got cold feet about whatever they were participating in and decided to ruin these guys so they wouldn’t have to do the walk of shame.

 

[norrislakevol]

But who ditches a phone without backing it up at least for the pictures? These girls are lying. They got cold feet about whatever they were participating in and decided to ruin these guys so they wouldn’t have to do the walk of shame.

No jury worth their salt should hand down a guilty verdict. It has to be beyond a shadow of a doubt, and their is a solid shadow of a doubt here.

 

[0nelilreb]

I problem with the whole thing if he is proven innocent and they lied on him is that they will have ruined the mans life and he will have to “settle “for just being innocent and not going to jail while they and the DA just go merrily on their way . The burden of proof is supposed to be with the prosecutors not the accused . He should be able to recoup all money he lost defending himself and including projected profits from these women . Just my 2 cents .

 

[Volsfaninva917]

Interesting

Bowles called his dad, who is a police officer in West Tennessee. Later, when the accuser phoned 911 from outside Volunteer Hall, Bowles could be heard on the recording of the call, saying, “Say you got raped.”

 

[Volsfaninva917]

Girl has Boyfriend Drae Bowles
Girl getting some action on the side from AJ and Friends
Everyone at the party finds out
Girl screams rape to save face with Drae Bowles
Girls get rid of phones
Drae Bowles gets involved with the title 9 suit with girls
Too late to turn back now

 

[utvolpj]

No jury worth their salt should hand down a guilty verdict. It has to be beyond a shadow of a doubt, and their is a solid shadow of a doubt here.

Ah yes, the shadow of a doubt requirement in the law. Always a difficult hurdle

 

[wmcovol]

What kind of people have sex in a room with other people there watching? I guess Im old school but my advice to any young man is DONT go there with any woman willing to have sex with others watching in the room.

Also, the fact that the accusers destroyed their phones and the DA has fought like hell to keep their social media out of this trial makes it stink to high heaven. Really, is justice being served or is the DA office simply seeking revenge against UT football program or the school in general? I think this is going to be a very difficult case for the DA to win. How do you vote guilty when the accusers have destroyed potential evidence and DA has attempted to prevent evidence proving innocence to be available. Remember it is "guilty beyond a reasonable doubt", not I think hes guilty. If it is "her" (victim and her friend) word against "his", her word isnt very reliable considering their actions involving destroying evidence. JMO

 

[cHiZzLeVOL]

I am an investigator and I have some experience with retrieving text messages. Unfortunately, unless a preservation letter is sent to the cell phone companies within a few days the messages are lost forever. Verizon seems to be one of the only companies that keeps them for any length of time. The best way to get this evidence is from the device but in this case it's sounds like that wasn't possible.

You are correct about a preservation letter. However, with Apple the messages go to a server. You can still do a preservation letter. Then subpoena for the messages. The thing is if the girls didn't know to delete or ask for their messages to be deleted from Apples server they could be there.

Now this issue comes to the fact that it is a 4yr old case. So did Apple keep those server files or did they dump them? I don't know what their policy is on how long they keep things on their server. That would be the issue.

 

[lukeneyland]

Are there any credible witnesses in this case? It seems no matter what I read that from either side, that I then read something else to make me question the authenticity of what I just read. There could be something I've missed because I've only followed this case sparingly, but to me it seems like a giant game of "he said she said". And I don't think that it's going to hold water in a criminal trial. It's a joke that it's taken 4 years to get to this point.

 

[Kristy*]

Are there any credible witnesses in this case? It seems no matter what I read that from either side, that I then read something else to make me question the authenticity of what I just read. There could be something I've missed because I've only followed this case sparingly, but to me it seems like a giant game of "he said she said". And I don't think that it's going to hold water in a criminal trial. It's a joke that it's taken 4 years to get to this point.

No. The girl's only witness - her best friend - left the room, but said everything/everyone appeared fine when she left.

 

[bamawriter]

No. The girl's only witness - her best friend - left the room, but said everything/everyone appeared fine when she left.

She also claims that she had to force Williams off of her and stormed out.

 

[BlueHalo]

She also claims that she had to force Williams off of her and stormed out.

Really?

"Lawn, who yesterday said “there was a proposition” to go upstairs, now says Williams asked her to go upstairs"

"Lawn is very detailed and vivid in her account of about everything - from where people walked to layout of rooms etc"

"Attorney Johnson noting Williams didn’t block Lawn from leaving room. She got her drink and phone and left room"

 

[Kristy*]

She also claims that she had to force Williams off of her and stormed out.

She said Williams was making aggressive passes at her, and "the accuser told her, "It's OK. Just do it.""

Sound like someone who doesn't want to be there? And this is from the state's main witness.

 

[orange parmejohn]

Looks like the girls' story is unraveling.

 

[bamawriter]

Really?

"Lawn, who yesterday said “there was a proposition” to go upstairs, now says Williams asked her to go upstairs"

"Lawn is very detailed and vivid in her account of about everything - from where people walked to layout of rooms etc"

"Attorney Johnson noting Williams didn’t block Lawn from leaving room. She got her drink and phone and left room"

The friend, Anna Lawn, is now describing arriving at the party and meeting Michael Williams at the party where the alleged incident occur.

She says he moved her hand to his crotch.

While upstairs, she said Williams tried to get her to perform sex acts. She refused, despite him physically forcing her head toward him, she says.

When Williams tried to pull down her underwear, she pushed him off and left, Lawn said.

She says she said she was angry. “That’s when I stopped being polite”

She grabbed her drink and phone and left the room

I'm not vouching for the accuracy. I'm just summarizing what was said.

 

[bamawriter]

She said Williams was making aggressive passes at her, and "the accuser told her, "It's OK. Just do it.""

Sound like someone who doesn't want to be there? And this is from the state's main witness.

Lawn suggests that the victim's reassurance had to do with keeping the guys calm.

Lawn says the alleged victim said “it’s okay” to her during the sexual acts.

She says that the statement goes on to say the alleged victim was implying the men wouldn’t get violent if they agreed to do what they wanted.

 

[Kristy*]

Lawn suggests that the victim's reassurance had to do with keeping the guys calm.

Not victim. Alleged victim or accuser.

Why would she be worried about keeping them calm? Accuser had consensual sexual encounters with Johnson in the past, had never seen him violent or aggressive toward her, and had never been involved with Williams. All according to her.

 

[BlueHalo]

Girl has Boyfriend Drae Bowles
Girl getting some action on the side from AJ and Friends
Everyone at the party finds out
Girl screams rape to save face with Drae Bowles
Girls get rid of phones
Drae Bowles gets involved with the title 9 suit with girls
Too late to turn back now

I'm on board with this, regardless of what the jury rules. Cut and dry from all the testimony I've seen.

 

[bamawriter]

Not victim. Alleged victim or accuser.

Why would she be worried about keeping them calm? Accuser had consensual sexual encounters with Johnson in the past, had never seen him violent or aggressive toward her, and had never been involved with Williams. All according to her.

I have no idea. I'm relaying the witness' answer.

Perhaps the alleged victim (and if I leave off "alleged" it's because she's referred to as "victim" in shorthand because of media privacy rules; I don't mean to imply that she was definitely a victim) saw that her friend was becoming upset with Williams' behavior. The alleged victim has not made any implication that she had any qualms about sleeping with Johnson.

 

[bamawriter]

Girl has Boyfriend Drae Bowles
Girl getting some action on the side from AJ and Friends
Everyone at the party finds out
Girl screams rape to save face with Drae Bowles
Girls get rid of phones
Drae Bowles gets involved with the title 9 suit with girls
Too late to turn back now

I haven't actually read the transcripts, I've just been following what's being reported out of the trial.

Were the accuser and Bowles an item? If so, it's weird that it hasn't come up in court.

 

[superdave1984]

Ah yes, the shadow of a doubt requirement in the law. Always a difficult hurdle

Reasonable doubt seems to exist here. Too many changes to the story. Whatever happened shouldn't have, but it would appear that rape didn't happen. And, if exonerated, they can sue her but won't get squat. AJ had a future in the NFL. He lost millions because of this.

As for the messages being stored on a server, there are always backups of the servers. Unless you're a Clinton that is. And I would bet that those phones have were not destroyed unless the messages don't line up with the accuser's story. Why would you destroy evidence that would support your case?

 

[bamawriter]

Reasonable doubt seems to exist here. Too many changes to the story.

As of yet the story seems fairly consistent. But the defense just got started with the alleged victim, so the critical info may be yet to come.

As for the messages being stored on a server, there are always backups of the servers. Unless you're a Clinton that is. And I would bet that those phones have were not destroyed unless the messages don't line up with the accuser's story. Why would you destroy evidence that would support your case?

Actually, that stuff isn't retained on servers. It's retained locally. Unfortunately, the local storage was destroyed, and you're right to be suspicious of that fact.

 

[Volsfaninva917]

I haven't actually read the transcripts, I've just been following what's being reported out of the trial.

Were the accuser and Bowles an item? If so, it's weird that it hasn't come up in court.

They were dating

 

[Sin City Vol]

If AJ is found not guilty I would sue the **** out of these girls and their parents due to potential lost wages

And if he is found guilty then he should serve his time.