At about 11 p.m. on Feb. 24, 1992, a young white woman was talking on a pay phone in San Pablo, California, when a Black man stopped his white car to ask directions. As she approached his car, she saw a metal object in the car, believed it was a gun, and felt she had no choice when the driver insisted she get in the car. The man drove her to a secluded intersection, forced her to perform oral sex, and raped her.
Two hours later, on Feb. 25, 1992, 30-year-old Albert Johnson was stopped for a speeding violation driving a white Fiat, which resembled the description that S.G. gave of her attacker’s vehicle. When the officer saw a chrome bar in the car, the officer believed it resembled the metal object S.G. had described..
Before being taken to the hospital, the victim, identified as S.G., was driven to the intersection where Johnson had been stopped. The victim was instructed that the man she would see may or may not be her assailant. When she arrived, she told the officer that she recognized the car and that Johnson was the rapist. Johnson was then arrested.
Subsequently, the lead detective in the case assembled a photographic lineup with Johnson’s picture and showed it to a young woman who had been attacked while she was jogging at a high school track in Richmond, California on Dec. 8, 1991. The victim, identified as J.V., said a man had approached her and demanded, at gunpoint, that she stop running. She said he ordered her behind a building, where he forced her to perform oral sex and raped her. He stole her watch and gold chain and walked her back to the track before telling her to leave.
The detective told J.V. that the perpetrator was in the lineup and encouraged her to make a selection. J.V. had described her attacker as being dark-skinned, clean shaven and between 6 feet 2 inches and 6 feet 4 inches tall. When she noted that Johnson had lighter skin than her attacker, the detective explained that Johnson had lighter skin because he had been in prison working out and had little exposure to sun. Ultimately, she identified Johnson as the assailant and the detective confirmed for her that he was the suspect. She later claimed she was pressured into making this identification.
Johnson, who had a mustache and was 5 feet 10 inches tall, was charged with sexually assaulting both women. He was also charged with kidnapping S.G. Johnson, who was engaged to be married, maintained he was innocent in both cases.
Johnson went to trial in Contra Costa County Superior Court in separate trials for each case. He was convicted of the attack on S.G. on November 13, 1992 based on her identification of him as her attacker. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
On January 28, 1993, despite witnesses who said Johnson was else at the time of the attack on J.V., he was convicted multiple counts of sexual assault for the attack on J.V. based on her identification. He was sentenced to 24 years in prison to be served consecutively to the 15 year sentence for a combined sentence of 39 years.
His convictions were affirmed on appeal.
Johnson studied law while incarcerated and sought DNA testing for the two rape cases. Unfortunately, his lawyer on the case involving S.G., whom he later accused of negligence for failing to pursue DNA testing or consult eyewitness identification experts at the time of the trial, never filed a petition to preserve the rape kit, so it was destroyed.
Johnson had a different defense attorney in the case involving J.V. That attorney had requested that the rape kit from J.V. be preserved.
On October 3, 2002, after DNA test results excluded Johnson as the attacker of J.V., his convictions in that case were vacated and the charges were dismissed. On October 4, 2002, he was released on parole in the case involving S.G.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-29-2011
Last Update Date: 02-16-2026
