Mary Johnson, of Hobbs, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the stabbing murder of her 11-year-old son Bruce Johnson, Jr. Originally charged with First Degree Murder by District Attorney Diana Luce and pleading “insanity and incapacity to form specific intent” to that charge, Johnson agreed to the lesser guilty charge of Second Degree Murder in a plea bargain deal.
Johnson will serve her sentence in the New Mexico Corrections Department system.
As previously reported by the Lea County Tribune, the multiple stabbing incident occurred on July 10, 2022. On that day Lea County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the 3900 block of Dal Paso Street in Hobbs after receiving a report of an altercation.
Upon arriving at the scene of the crime, sheriff’s deputies found that both Bruce Johnson, Jr. and Mary Johnson, age 49 at the time, had “sustained multiple stabbing wounds”. According to a NewsWest9 article, Johnson’s arrest report states that Bruce Johnson, Sr. called 911 after finding his son, Bruce Jr., “lying on his bed, face-down with a knife in his back.” Bruce Johnson, Sr. told the 911 dispatcher during the phone call that he saw “stab wounds” in Mary Johnson’s chest and that “he believed Mary stabbed herself.”
Bruce Johnson, Jr. was pronounced dead after being transported to and treated at Covenant Health Hobbs Hospital, and Mary Johnson was airlifted to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas where she remained in critical condition. The sheriff’s office reported that “Mary suffered self-inflicted stab wounds to her chest.” Later, an arrest warrant was issued for her.
Hours before dying at Covenant Health Hobbs, Bruce Jr. told “…Lea County deputies … that his mother Mary Johnson was the one who stabbed him,” states a KRQE News 13 article.
Court documents reveal that Bruce Jr. “…had said he hated his mother and kept a bat under his bed to protect himself from her.”
Bruce Johnson, Sr. told authorities that he and his son Bruce Jr. moved from Oklahoma to Hobbs to “get away from Mary who was abusive”, states the KRQE News story.
Mary followed the two to Hobbs to be close to Bruce Jr. When she was at the hospital in Lubbock recuperating from her self-inflicted stabbing wounds, Mary told hospital personnel, “If I can’t have him (Bruce Jr.), no one can.”
In a KRQE news video, Bruce Jr.’s sister Mishelle Wilson-Curry states that Mary had stopped taking her medication and often talked about “delusions of being God” and “wanting to help her children ascend”. Wilson-Curry remarked that both she and others “could see the signs” but that nothing could be done.
Second Degree Murder Charge
In New Mexico Second Degree Murder is defined as a felony resulting in the death of a human being. Punishment for the felony is 15 years in prison and two years of parole, plus a fine of $12,500.
In Mary Johnson’s particular case five years in prison for “aggravated circumstances” were added to the mandatory sentence, states New Mexico Fifth Judicial District Court documents. Court records also state that Johnson has been ordered to pay all mandatory fees and restitution for Bruce Jr.’s funeral.
Other specifics of Johnson’s judgment are a maximum deduction of four days per month from time served for “meritorious conduct”, credit for time already served and suspension of the $12,500 fine.
Summing up the case District Attorney Luce said that it is always “…such a tragic event when anyone, especially a young person, dies untimely and at the hands of a parent. These types of cases are never easy. We can only hope to provide some sense of closure and justice to the family. We extend our gratitude to our law enforcement partners on this case, specifically the Lea County Sheriff’s Office for a job well done.”
