Post by CCADP on Aug 20, 2005 9:20:16 GMT -5
News Observer
Three families' grief fills court
Sentencing begins in tailgate trial
By CINDY GEORGE, Staff Writer
RALEIGH -- "I'm Kevin's dad," said Dennis McCann, a sturdy Chicago high-school wrestling and football coach, as he turned to jurors, looked at their faces and told them how his family was destroyed Sept. 4, 2004.
That day, Timothy Wayne Johnson killed Kevin Martin McCann and Brett Johnson Harman in a tailgate area outside N.C. State University's football season opener.
Johnson was found guilty Thursday of one count of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder. Because Johnson has a prior violent felony, he faces life in prison without parole or the death penalty for the first-degree murder conviction. The trial's sentencing phase began Friday.
Dennis McCann put on his glasses and began reading a statement about his son, a budding star in Chicago's financial district, and the Marine Corps infantry officer McCann coached in wrestling and considered a son.
"Both boys were everything you'd want your son to be. They were courageous, brave and honest. Brett and Kevin were funny, they were smart, they were sweet, and they were loyal. They were thoughtful, caring, sensitive and loving young men without a mean bone in their bodies.
"Kevin and Brett always did the right thing, and everyone knew that," he said. "The pain is incomprehensible -- every minute of every day with no ending."
The jurors who will decide Johnson's fate heard Friday from a mother and a father who lost their sons, a man who sees the devastation two shots he fired brought to three families, and a killer's mom who begged for her son's life.
"You would be hard-pressed to find a more positive, enthusiastic family with a genuine zest for life than the McCanns," Dennis McCann continued. "Now, everything is shrouded in gray. Everything seems dark. We are still now, and always will be, a loving close family, but losing Kevin has truly rubbed our hearts out.
"We just ask that justice be served," he said.
As her husband's story ended, Jane McCann's sobs and shrieks became audible.
Nancy Johnson Tighe of Park Ridge, Ill., a Chicago suburb, followed by telling jurors she now has one son, Rob Harman.
"Mrs. Tighe, do you have any other children?" prosecutor Jeff Cruden asked.
"Not anymore," she said.
Her son, Brett Harman, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and received a Marine Corps commission. He was an infantry officer stationed at Camp Lejeune and planned to lead a platoon to Iraq in January 2005.
"There will be no more new memories. Instead, Brett's life ended with a gunshot," Tighe said. "My family and I are left haunted by the horror of Brett's murder. I'm left with one son -- not two."
The sentencing hearing was not only a first chance for the victims' parents to speak to jurors, but a last chance for Johnson.
First, his older brother, father, sister-in-law, pastor and aunt begged for his life.
Johnson heard the toll his actions have taken on his parents. How they are about to lose their house over this. How folks back home in Tarboro have yard sales to help them pay for gas to and from Raleigh. How his father who has two hernias -- one that pushes his belly out like an oddly-shaped pregnancy -- but can't afford the time off from work to have them repaired or the cost of surgery.
Then, for a second time in the three-week case, Johnson loped to the witness stand to ask for mercy.
He was gasping between words as if choking. He was more distraught than jurors have ever seen him. He expressed his respect for Brett Harman and Kevin McCann.
"I just wish I could have been half of what they were," Johnson said.
He looked over to his family and saw the pain in their eyes.
"I'll have to watch every one of my family members die, and I won't get to be there," he blubbered.
Ann Johnson's head hit the bench in front of her.
Johnson thanked his parents for standing by him. "It's not your fault. It's mine."
The last witness was the convicted killer's mother.
Just overnight, Ann Johnson looked older and paler. Her face was puffy. She held her head up with her hands. In a slow, unsteady walk, she reached the witness stand.
"Please let Tim live," she said, as her son started shaking.
Looking at Brett Harman's mother, brother and stepfather, she said: "I'm just so sorry for your loss."
"I'm sorry for any part -- that I didn't make right decisions in how I raised him -- anything I could have done to stop him," she said. "We ask you to forgive us."
Ann Johnson got up from the chair, stepped away from the microphone, then turned back.
Still on the witness stand, she looked into her son's eyes and said: "I love you, Tim."
Staff writer Cindy George can be reached at 829-4656 or cgeorge@newsobserver.com.
Three families' grief fills court
Sentencing begins in tailgate trial
By CINDY GEORGE, Staff Writer
RALEIGH -- "I'm Kevin's dad," said Dennis McCann, a sturdy Chicago high-school wrestling and football coach, as he turned to jurors, looked at their faces and told them how his family was destroyed Sept. 4, 2004.
That day, Timothy Wayne Johnson killed Kevin Martin McCann and Brett Johnson Harman in a tailgate area outside N.C. State University's football season opener.
Johnson was found guilty Thursday of one count of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder. Because Johnson has a prior violent felony, he faces life in prison without parole or the death penalty for the first-degree murder conviction. The trial's sentencing phase began Friday.
Dennis McCann put on his glasses and began reading a statement about his son, a budding star in Chicago's financial district, and the Marine Corps infantry officer McCann coached in wrestling and considered a son.
"Both boys were everything you'd want your son to be. They were courageous, brave and honest. Brett and Kevin were funny, they were smart, they were sweet, and they were loyal. They were thoughtful, caring, sensitive and loving young men without a mean bone in their bodies.
"Kevin and Brett always did the right thing, and everyone knew that," he said. "The pain is incomprehensible -- every minute of every day with no ending."
The jurors who will decide Johnson's fate heard Friday from a mother and a father who lost their sons, a man who sees the devastation two shots he fired brought to three families, and a killer's mom who begged for her son's life.
"You would be hard-pressed to find a more positive, enthusiastic family with a genuine zest for life than the McCanns," Dennis McCann continued. "Now, everything is shrouded in gray. Everything seems dark. We are still now, and always will be, a loving close family, but losing Kevin has truly rubbed our hearts out.
"We just ask that justice be served," he said.
As her husband's story ended, Jane McCann's sobs and shrieks became audible.
Nancy Johnson Tighe of Park Ridge, Ill., a Chicago suburb, followed by telling jurors she now has one son, Rob Harman.
"Mrs. Tighe, do you have any other children?" prosecutor Jeff Cruden asked.
"Not anymore," she said.
Her son, Brett Harman, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and received a Marine Corps commission. He was an infantry officer stationed at Camp Lejeune and planned to lead a platoon to Iraq in January 2005.
"There will be no more new memories. Instead, Brett's life ended with a gunshot," Tighe said. "My family and I are left haunted by the horror of Brett's murder. I'm left with one son -- not two."
The sentencing hearing was not only a first chance for the victims' parents to speak to jurors, but a last chance for Johnson.
First, his older brother, father, sister-in-law, pastor and aunt begged for his life.
Johnson heard the toll his actions have taken on his parents. How they are about to lose their house over this. How folks back home in Tarboro have yard sales to help them pay for gas to and from Raleigh. How his father who has two hernias -- one that pushes his belly out like an oddly-shaped pregnancy -- but can't afford the time off from work to have them repaired or the cost of surgery.
Then, for a second time in the three-week case, Johnson loped to the witness stand to ask for mercy.
He was gasping between words as if choking. He was more distraught than jurors have ever seen him. He expressed his respect for Brett Harman and Kevin McCann.
"I just wish I could have been half of what they were," Johnson said.
He looked over to his family and saw the pain in their eyes.
"I'll have to watch every one of my family members die, and I won't get to be there," he blubbered.
Ann Johnson's head hit the bench in front of her.
Johnson thanked his parents for standing by him. "It's not your fault. It's mine."
The last witness was the convicted killer's mother.
Just overnight, Ann Johnson looked older and paler. Her face was puffy. She held her head up with her hands. In a slow, unsteady walk, she reached the witness stand.
"Please let Tim live," she said, as her son started shaking.
Looking at Brett Harman's mother, brother and stepfather, she said: "I'm just so sorry for your loss."
"I'm sorry for any part -- that I didn't make right decisions in how I raised him -- anything I could have done to stop him," she said. "We ask you to forgive us."
Ann Johnson got up from the chair, stepped away from the microphone, then turned back.
Still on the witness stand, she looked into her son's eyes and said: "I love you, Tim."
Staff writer Cindy George can be reached at 829-4656 or cgeorge@newsobserver.com.