Sacramento teen recants testimony that led to wrongful conviction

By Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Staff Writer Franki Jones struggles daily with the guilt of having provided testimony that led to Doshmen Johnson’s murder conviction in 2009. She says that testimony was coerced and that Johnson is innocent. Kachiside Madu, OBSERVER. Franki Jones was a frightened, pregnant 17-year-old in 2009 when her testimony sent Doshmen Johnson to prison for life. Jones was the lone eyewitness against Johnson, also 17 at the time, in a case in which he was convicted for the murder of Perry Steele. Wracked for years with guilt, she says she was manipulated by the police and her mother into giving false testimony. “They told me that the weight was all on my shoulders because nobody else was there,” she says. She’s now determined to share “her truth.” Johnson’s attorney says it has come to light that Jones was coerced into identifying Johnson under distress, influenced by external pressures rather than her recollection of events. Moreover, new evidence suggests Johnson could not have been at the crime scene at the time of the incident. Jones told The OBSERVER in an exclusive interview that a Sacramento Police Department detective, using Jones’ mother, coerced her to identify Johnson....