A Republican state lawmaker in Kentucky who defiantly denied allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl in the basement of his home, died in an apparent suicide Wednesday night, the county coroner said. He was 57.
Bullitt
County Coroner Dave Billings said Johnson died of a single gunshot
wound on Greenwell Ford Road in Mount Washington, Kentucky. Billings
said Johnson stopped his car at the end of a bridge in a secluded area,
then got out and walked to the front of the car. He said an autopsy is
scheduled for Thursday morning.
"I would say it is probably suicide," he said.
Johnson
was elected to the state legislature in 2016, part of a wave of
Republican victories that gave the GOP control of the Kentucky House of
Representatives for the first time in nearly 100 years. He won his
election despite Republican leaders urging him to drop out of the race
after local media reported on some of his Facebook posts comparing
Barack and Michelle Obama to monkeys.
The
pastor of Heart of Fire church in Louisville, Johnson sponsored a
number of bills having to do with religious liberty and teaching the
Bible in public schools. But he was mostly out of the spotlight until
Monday, when the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting published
an account from a woman saying Johnson sexually assaulted her in the
basement of his home in 2013.
At the time, the woman told police, who investigated the incident but closed the case and did not file charges.
On
Tuesday, Johnson held a news conference in the pulpit of his church,
which he began by leading friends and family in singing a portion of the
Christmas carol "O Come All Ye Faithful." He said the allegations
against him were "totally false" and said they were part of a nationwide
strategy of defeating conservative Republicans. He referenced
Republican Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, who faces
accusations of sexual misconduct from multiple women.
Shortly
before 5 p.m. Wednesday, Johnson posted a message on his Facebook page
that asked people to care for his wife. He wrote that PTSD "is a
sickness that will take my life, I cannot handle it any longer. It has
won this life, BUT HEAVEN IS MY HOME." The post appears to have been
removed.
Michael
Skoler, president of Louisville Public Media, which owns the Kentucky
Center for Investigative Reporting, said everyone at the organization is
"deeply sad."
"Our
aim, as always, is to provide the public with fact-based, unbiased
reporting and hold public officials accountable for their actions,"
Skoler said. "As part of our process, we reached out to Representative
Johnson numerous times over the course of a seven-month investigation.
He declined requests to talk about our findings."
The
sexual assault accusations against Johnson were revealed as a sexual
harassment scandal involving four other Republican lawmakers was
unfolding at the state Capitol. Former Republican House Speaker Jeff
Hoover resigned his leadership position after acknowledging he secretly
settled a sexual harassment claim with a member of his staff. Three
other lawmakers were involved in the settlement, and all lost their
committee chairmanships.
"I
am very sad over the passing of Rep. Dan Johnson. Over the past few
weeks in some of the darkest days of my life, he reached out to me,
encouraged me, and prayed for me," Hoover posted on his Twitter account
Wednesday night.
Republican Gov. Matt Bevin posted on his Twitter account that "my heart breaks for his family tonight."
"These
are heavy days in Frankfort and in America," Bevin posted. "May God
indeed shed His grace on us all. ... We sure need it."
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