Black and Missing

Charges dropped in Phylicia Barnes murder case

All charges have been dropped against the man charged with the 2010 homicide death of 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes

Published

11 years ago

January 20, 2015

UVM Staff

Phylicia Barnes

Table of Contents

All charges have been dropped against the man charged with the 2010 homicide death of 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes.

Charges dropped in Phylicia Barnes missing case

According to the Charlotte Observer, Michael Johnson, who was charged in connection with Barnes’ death, has had two trials in Baltimore that were inconclusive. Because of this, a judge has now concluded lack of evidence and has dropped the charges. Johnson has spent more than two years in jail.

Teen went missing while visiting family

Barnes, a 16-year-old honors student who was visiting relatives in the city, went missing on Dec. 28, 2010, from her older sister’s Northwest Baltimore apartment.

Johnson was in the process of breaking up with Barnes’ sister when Barnes went missing. Four months after she went missing, Barnes’ body was found in the Susquehanna River.

Johnson was charged in 2012.

The jury in his 2013 trial convicted him, but then the judge threw out the conviction, saying prosecutors did not disclose key information about a witness.

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UVM Staff

Unheard Voices, an award-winning, family-operated online news magazine, began in 2004 as a community newsletter serving Neptune, Asbury Park, and Long Branch, N.J. Over time, it grew into a nationally recognized Black-owned media outlet. The publication remains one of the few dedicated to covering social justice issues. Its honors include the NAACP Unsung Hero Award and multiple media innovator awards for excellence in social justice reporting and communications.