Dorian Johnson
Courtesy of WCSO
The 22-year-old Detroit man who police said sliced open an Ann Arbor man last September will serve up to 10 years in prison, a judge ordered Thursday.
Dorian Johnson was sentenced to serve 67 months to 10 years for a count of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder. Johnson pleaded no contest to that count, as well as a conspiracy count and a charge of possessing a dangerous weapon, in April.
The victim, 22-year-old Gailen Foster, told the Washtenaw County Trial Court he is in therapy and can't get the image of Johnson out of his head, even though he had never even met him before that night.
Foster said he was sleeping when he heard a knock on the door in the early hours of Sept. 9, 2012 at his apartment complex in the 400 block of South First Street in Ann Arbor.
It was late, about 3:30 a.m.
"As soon as I opened the door, he stabbed me," Foster said. "It's going to be in my head the rest of my life."
Johnson was in the hallway with his girlfriend, Courtney McCoy, also charged in the case and scheduled for sentencing next week. Foster said he knew McCoy, who lived across the hall from him, but not Johnson.
The one horizontal stabbing motion, displayed in court by attorneys, ripped Foster's abdomen open, yet he still had the wherewithal to walk to a gas station where 911 was called.
"I had to walk with my guts in my hands all the way to the gas station at the end of the street," Foster said. "Every second was desperate."
Prosecutors and Swartz said Foster was lucky to be alive. While arguing for the maximum sentence, Assistant Washtenaw County Prosecutor Blake Hatlem said this was very close to being a murder case. He asked the judge to sentence Johnson to 78 months to 10 years, which would have surpassed the maximum sentence allowed.
At one point, Foster pulled up the tank top he was wearing to show Swartz the healed wound. It was revealed in court Foster was only stabbed once, but it was so severe it caused three major injuries that needed surgery.
Erika Julien, Johnson's court-appointed attorney, argued for the bottom of the sentencing guidelines, about 34-67 months, citing the fact Johnson had no prior felonies. Julien also cast doubt on Johnson's culpability, saying McCoy was the one urging him to do it while he was highly intoxicated and even sticking the knife into Johnson's hand. McCoy reportedly told Johnson that he needed the knife if he was going to confront Foster, Julien told the judge.
Swartz opted for the maximum sentence legally allowed.
"This crime was very, very serious," he said. "I'm sure it was terrifying."
What exactly McCoy and Foster were fighting about that caused her to urge Johnson to confront him hasn't precisely been established. Foster told the court he wasn't sure why McCoy was upset with him, just that she told him a lot of different things that night.
"We still don't know what she really told him," he said.
Near the end of his statement, Foster looked directly at Johnson who sat behind the nearby defense table.
"I pray for you, bro," he said. "You messed up my life."
John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.