Judge tosses plea deals couple made to avoid jail for neglect death of son in Plymouth in 2015

Sentencing scheduled for Thursday has been postponed now that a Hennepin County judge has rejected plea agreements for parents formerly from Plymouth who moved to New Zealand for more than seven years after their 7-year-old son died of neglect.

Timothy D. Johnson, 46, and Sarah N. Johnson, 45, entered guilty pleas to gross misdemeanor child neglect in November in connection with the death of their son, Seth, in March 2015.

Timothy Johnson's deal with the County Attorney's Office called for him to serve no more jail time beyond his brief stint in custody in July 2022 for booking, and for probation lasting no more than two years.

Terms of Sarah Johnson's deal included that any jail time she might receive be served in her current state of residence and be satisfied through community service. The Johnsons moved to Yakima, Wash., where they have relatives, upon their return to the United States last summer. No more than two years' probation was also part of the plea agreement.

Judge Carolina Lamas, however, rebuffed the terms for both parents.

"Upon review of the record, including the [sealed] presentence investigation," Lamas wrote in identical orders for each defendant, "the court is rejecting the plea agreement."

Lamas' orders did not explicitly say why she was tossing the plea deals, but she highlighted that Timothy Johnson "would receive no further jail time" and that Sarah Johnson "would potentially receive community service, but no jail time."

Each of the Johnsons is left with a choice: either go ahead and plead guilty without an agreement with the prosecution, or enter not guilty pleas and move toward trial. Messages were left Thursday with defense attorneys for both Johnsons about what their next moves might be.

In the meantime, another hearing is scheduled for Jan. 17. When the County Attorney's Office was asked by the Star Tribune about the purpose of the hearing, prosecutor Dan Allard through a spokesman did not mention the plea deals being pitched. Instead, he said he couldn't make Thursday's scheduled sentencing because of a conflict in connection with a grand jury investigation.

"These weren't cases he wanted someone else to cover," said spokesman Shawn Daye, "so he asked to move them to next week so he could personally appear."

The two were charged in December 2016 with gross misdemeanor child neglect. Warrants were issued for their arrest after they failed to appear for a hearing a month later.

Sarah Johnson's attorney, Gordon Mohr, told the Star Tribune in July that the couple wasn't trying to evade capture but had moved to New Zealand with their many children after a child protection investigation ended without any finding of wrongdoing and before the criminal complaints were filed.

According to the charges:

On March 29, 2015, Police arrived at the home in the 6100 block of N. Vicksburg Lane and found Seth on the bathroom floor and Timothy Johnson trying in vain to resuscitate him. The boy had many bruises, as well as "breaks on his skin on the majority of his body."

In the weeks before Seth's death, he stopped sleeping, would shake at times and developed blisters and other marks on his legs, along with lesions on his heels, suggesting a lack of mobility. The parents explained that Seth would throw himself down stairs and was hitting his head.

But the Johnsons had "issues with going to doctors" and never sought medical attention for their son. As his behavior worsened, the Johnsons increased his vitamin intake and treated his wounds with an antibiotic skin ointment and "medical honey."

On the weekend before Seth's death, the older brother watching the boy called the parents on March 29 and said Seth wasn't eating or interacting, had stopped talking and couldn't get out of bed.

The couple returned home that night. Seth was unresponsive. "They prayed for his health" at that moment, the complaint read.

The next morning, Timothy Johnson found Seth still unresponsive on the mattress and covered in vomit. The couple cleaned him off and began CPR.

Then they called 911.