Bryant Johnson, the 52-year-old man shot to death inside his home on Charleston's West Side last month, was extremely well-liked, a prosecutor said Tuesday during a hearing where a Kanawha County magistrate found there was probable cause to send the case against the man accused in Johnson's death to a grand jury.
John Stanley Ford III, 27, of Charleston, faces a charge of first-degree murder. Police and prosecutors allege Ford, dressed in all black with a mask covering half his face, entered Johnson's apartment on First Avenue at about 11:30 p.m. on April 30 and shot Johnson twice, striking him in the chest and groin.
When Charleston police arrived at the scene, a pool of blood surrounded Johnson's head on the kitchen floor, Detective Richard Basford testified during the hearing.
According to police, at the time of the shooting, Sherry Gray sat and waited inside her car with her 2-year-old granddaughter, who also is Ford's daughter. Sherry Gray testified during Tuesday's hearing that her daughter, Michelle Gray and Ford asked her to give them a ride to the place on Glenwood Road.
A criminal complaint filed against Ford states Michelle Gray asked her mother to take the couple to Johnson's house to buy heroin. Sherry Gray said Tuesday that Johnson didn't sell heroin, though. The detective said that it is well known that Johnson sold crack cocaine. Prosecutors have said that so far in the investigation they have no evidence to show Johnson sold heroin.
Johnson also did lawn maintenance for people, sometimes for free, the prosecutor said.
"Everybody liked B, didn't they?" assistant Kanawha prosecutor Maryclaire Akers asked Sherry Gray.
"Yeah, yeah," she answered. "He was a good guy."
Johnson's sister was at Sherry Gray's house when she returned home on the night of his death.
"She told me and I kept thinking. I kept thinking," Sherry Gray said. She paused, "I didn't know."
"You didn't know that's what [Ford] had done?" Akers interrupted.
"I didn't know what happened," Sherry Gray answered.
Michelle Gray told her mother that she didn't go inside Johnson's apartment on the night he was killed. Michelle Gray told her mother that Ford "didn't do anything," Sherry Gray said.
Ford's attorney, John Carr, asked Sherry Gray what Ford's demeanor was like when he returned to the car the night Johnson was killed.
"It was the same as always. Calm, collected," Sherry Gray said.
Her daughter, upon returning to the car, though, said "I think that man is dead," Sherry Gray testified.
Police located a black face mask with Velcro on the sides inside the home Ford and Michelle Gray shared. One of the women inside the apartment when Johnson was killed described for police a similar mask worn that night by the man who killed her friend, the detective said.
Also found in the house was a single .22-caliber bullet. Basford said the bullet Johnson was shot with also was of a small caliber.
Ford's lawyer tried to persuade the magistrate to dismiss the murder charge. He said prosecutors didn't provide any motive during Tuesday's hearing.
"There was no testimony to show Mr. Ford even knew who Mr. Johnson was," Carr said.
Ford remains at South Central Regional Jail, where he is being held without bail.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.