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Mom charged with felony murder in death of son rejects plea deal

Lovily Johnson, a 23-year-old Wyoming mother accused in the 2017 neglect death of her infant son, was offered a plea deal that called for a minimum prison term of between 15 and 25 years.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A Kent County mother charged with felony murder in the 2017 neglect death of her infant son has rejected a plea deal that called for a minimum prison term of between 15 and 25 years.

Instead, 23-year-old Lovily Johnson has opted to take her chances at trial. The gamble has her facing life in prison without possibility of parole if a jury finds her guilty of felony murder. In this case, the underlying felony is first-degree child abuse.

Johnson is charged in the death of her six-month-old son, Noah. Investigators say the boy was left strapped in a car seat in Johnson’s Wyoming apartment for two days. She was living on McKee Avenue near 26th Street SW.

Noah Johnson went without food and water and suffered from diaper rash so severe, areas of his skin had fallen away, an autopsy showed. The boy was already dead when he was brought to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids on July 19, 2017.

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker offered to let Johnson enter a plea to second-degree murder. It is punishable by up to life in prison; felony murder carries a mandatory life term. Under the offer, Johnson would have to serve a minimum term of between 15 and 25 years in prison.

During a plea hearing Thursday, Aug. 30 before Kent County Circuit Court Judge Mark Trusock, she rejected the offer. "I would like to go to trial,'' Johnson said.

Defense attorney Jonathan Schildgen then asked to have the trial delayed. He said a delay was warranted to give him time to respond to what he called a breach of attorney-client privilege at the Kent County Jail.

A letter Johnson wrote to Schildgen was intercepted by Kent County Jail staff, copied and given to Wyoming police detectives. While jail mail is opened for security purposes and occasionally copied, making copies of letters between inmates and attorneys is not permitted.

“All we’re asking for is a brief amount of time so we can preserve the record and file motions and research the law,’’ Schildgen told the court Thursday. “It’s almost insane to say we can’t even have a week or two weeks to find out was it appropriate what happened to her letters to me.’’

Trusock denied the request and said Johnson’s trial will get underway next week with jury selection.

The letter, he said, was not seen by the prosecutor's office and will play no role in Johnson's trial.

“Mr. Becker stated on the record he didn’t review it. What’s the issue?’’ Trusock asked. “What possible prejudice could your client have at this point? This appears to simply be a stalling technique.’’

Johnson has been in the Kent County Jail since July 20, 2017. She’s undergone two exams to determine if she is competent to stand trial and able to assist in her own defense. Evaluators in both cases determined she is competent.

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