Parents' religion barred from trial on child's death

Prosecutors won't be allowed to explore the beliefs of parents whose son died after he was stung by 432 yellow jackets.

By JOE HUMPHREY

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 1, 2000

TAMPA -- Ever since 2-year-old Harrison Johnson was fatally stung by hundreds of yellow jackets in 1998, investigators have tried to determine why his parents waited more than seven hours to seek medical attention.

A common theory centers on Wylie and Kelly Johnson's involvement in a religious group that resists medicine and compares it to sorcery. Instead of calling 911, they bathed Harrison and put him to bed, authorities said. It wasn't until past midnight, after the boy had already stopped breathing from the 432 stings, that the Johnsons called 911, authorities said.

If religious beliefs did prevent the parents from calling 911, jurors won't hear about it during this week's trial. Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett granted a motion Monday from the Johnsons' attorney barring any reference to their religion.

It took all day Monday to seat a six-member jury, which will determine whether the Johnsons are guilty of aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony with a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

Defense attorney George Tragos said religion played no role in the Johnsons' decisions about how to treat their son after the attack.

Tragos said medical attention did not appear necessary because the boy had no adverse reactions from the stings, which he suffered about 5 p.m. Sept. 28, 1998, after tripping over a nest in the Town 'N Country yard of a family friend.

Religion's role was blown out of proportion because of "law enforcement misinformation," Tragos said Monday. Prosecutor Chris Moody did not object to keeping religion out of the trial and would not comment following jury selection.

Opening statements are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. today.

At the time of Harrison's death, the Johnsons belonged to the Bible Readers Fellowship, a group that was investigated and eventually cleared of covering up the death of a 1-year-old girl in 1996.

During that investigation, Palm Bay police officers on Florida's east coast asked Wylie Johnson, 38, if he would have called 911 if his child were in trouble.

"I don't know," he told detectives in a taped statement, "and the reason I say I don't know . . . is I guess you have to try and put yourself in that position and say what you would do."

Later in that interview he said, "Jesus Christ always, when people came to him, he healed them. He never sent them to anyone, let alone a doctor."

The couple, who live in Melbourne, have repeatedly invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and have refused to speak with police about the incident.

- Joe Humphrey can be reached at (813) 226-3403 or humphrey@sptimes.com.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.