Plea closes shootout case

JACKSON, Mo. -- A man who ended his best friend's violent rampage by killing him in a barroom shootout pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor weapons charge.

Cleared of homicide charges in the shooting death of Winford S. Griffith, Cleo Johns, 64, of Cape Girardeau pleaded guilty to taking a loaded weapon into a public assemblage. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed a felony charge of carrying a concealed weapon. Johns was fined $500 and court costs, and the case is closed.

Because Johns was not convicted of a felony, he remains free to own guns.

Police said Griffith's death on March 15 ended a morning of mayhem which began with him breaking into the home of a friend in Fruitland, Mo., and shooting at her as she fled in his truck. He then drove to Star Vue mobile home park, shot his neighbor Mary Boitnott in the head and left her for dead.

Boitnott remained in stable condition Monday at St. Francis Medical Center, according to hospital spokeswoman Maria Swan.

According to court records, Boitnott warned Johns the day before the shooting that Griffith wanted to kill both of them.

Johns and Griffith had been best friends for 30 years and had known each other for 50. Griffith was apparently angry with Johns for gossiping about his private life with Boitnott, with whom Griffith shared a long-term romantic relationship.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle waited until after a coroner's inquest to file the weapons charges so he could hear the testimony of all the witnesses involved.

The coroner's jury ruled justifiable homicide in the shooting, but Swingle said Johns wasn't justified in carrying the gun.

He researched Missouri law to see if a threat to an individual's life justified carrying a concealed weapon.

"Although Johns had reason to be in fear of Griffith based upon the threat, he did not do all that was legally possible to avoid breaking these weapons offenses," Swingle wrote in a research memo.

"He did not report the threat to the police. He did not stay at home. ... His actions created a risk that an innocent bystander could be injured, and in fact an innocent bystander was injured," Swingle wrote.

Kenny Tollison was grazed in the forehead by a bullet from Johns' gun. The wound required nine stitches.

abuchanan@semissourian.com

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