Prosecutors Retreat After Autopsy of 413-Pound Lawyer; Dead Dog Was Seized
The widow of a 413-pound Michigan lawyer who was charged in his death last week was released on her own recognizance Monday after prosecutors said they aren’t sure the forensic evidence supports their theory of the case.
Laura Johnson was charged with second-degree murder and unauthorized practice of medicine in the death of her husband Lloyd Johnson, a former lawyer at Geoffrey Feiger’s law firm. Johnson was charged after police searched their home and seized scalpels, possible human tissue in the refrigerator, bloody sheets and a dead dog.
But prosecutors retreated on Monday after an autopsy found no signs of trauma. The medical examiner said Johnson was “morbidly obese” at 413 pounds and a diabetic who suffered from organ damage and unhealed wounds associated with the disease, the Detroit Free Press reports. Lloyd Johnson died last Wednesday, two days after his wife had called police to report her 47-year-old husband had suffered a heart attack.
The couple also had a pending lawsuit claiming they suffered from the effects of black mold in a previous home.
Lloyd Johnson had recently told his wife that he wanted a divorce, family friend and lawyer Brian Dailey had said last week in a news conference. Laura Johnson’s mother, Josephine Michalik, dismisses rumors of divorce, the Detroit Free Press reports in a separate story. “Oh, yeah, the cops were out there a lot,” Michalik told the newspaper. “But hurt each other? Oh no, they were in love.”
The Detroit News also has a story.
Updated coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Prosecutors Drop Charges in Death of Michigan Lawyer”
