Inset: Janice David (Church Funeral Services). Background: Earl Lee Johnson Jr. following his arrest for the murder of Janice David in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (WAFB).
A Louisiana jury convicted a 39-year-old man for beating and stabbing a woman as he streamed the act on Facebook Live before setting the car on fire with the victim still inside.
Earl Lee Johnson was found guilty of first-degree murder the 2022 death of 34-year-old Janice David in Baton Rouge. According to a courtroom report from local CBS affiliate WAFB, jurors came back with the verdict in just over an hour after a five-day trial in which they saw the 16-minute livestream video that showed the heinous slaying.
“In the video, he told you exactly what he was doing, and he did it in front of you, and he wanted to do it that way, but that doesn”t mean that he is insane,” prosecutor Dana Cummings told the jury during closing arguments. “You saw him killing Janice David. I did not create this evidence; he did. And he wanted everyone to see it because he wanted to be famous and he wanted his son to be famous.”
Cummings continued: “You saw him say, ‘She was going to say I raped her, they’re going to believe her over me. If I’m going down, I’m going to live forever,'”
But Johnson’s attorneys said during their closing arguments that Johnson was not in his right mind at the time of the murder. He and David were on a days-long drug binge. Johnson was suffering from a “severe mental defect,” his attorney Hafiz Folami said.
As Law&Crime previously reported, David was found dead in a vehicle at 3636 South Sherwood Forest Boulevard around 9:52 p.m. on April 18, 2022. State police told the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office of a Facebook Live video in which a man stabbed a woman. Deputies found the vehicle, cops said.
Johnson was initially arrested for stealing a vehicle, authorities said. He was also charged with murder, theft of a motor vehicle and aggravated flight form an officer.
Police think Johnson and David used drugs heavily over several days before the murder, spokesman Lt. L’Jean McKneely told The New Orleans Advocate. He cited evidence including Johnson speaking to police.
Someone saw video of the attack from Facebook Live, and told Facebook, he said. The company then contacted Louisiana State Police. McKneely called the alleged murder a “very gruesome, very evil act” in which Johnson choked, beat, and stabbed David. He then tried to set the car on fire, McKneely said.
Sentencing is set for Dec. 10.
