Show-Me State Times

U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced a man who fatally shot someone in Butler County, Missouri, to protect a heroin conspiracy to 20 years in prison.

James Odell Johnson pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and one count of conspiracy to possess and discharge a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. He admitted shooting a man in Poplar Bluff at the behest of Shanesha “Nikki” Burns in connection with a heroin distribution conspiracy. The victim’s body was discovered on May 20, 2018.

The heroin conspiracy involving Johnson and Burns began at least as early as 2018, according to their guilty pleas. James Michael Cohen and others would transport heroin from St. Louis, Missouri, to Butler County twice a month. Cohen and others would then sell the heroin. Members of the conspiracy used Burns’ home just outside Poplar Bluff to sell and store heroin. Burns also sold heroin. Johnson obtained heroin for his own use and for resale from Cohen and others in half-ounce to ounce quantities. Cohen also supplied firearms to Johnson at various times during the conspiracy.

Two days before Johnson’s victim’s body was discovered, the Missouri State Highway Patrol learned that heroin was being processed and packaged at Burns’ home. The Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force and the Butler County Sheriff’s Office went to the house, and Burns agreed to let them perform a search. They found marijuana, heroin, and cocaine base. Burns believed that someone who had just left the home had tipped off police and told Johnson that she wanted him killed. Johnson lured the victim to the home with drugs supplied by Burns and Cohen, then invited the victim to a rural area to go shooting. When the victim's gun jammed, Johnson shot him with his own 9mm handgun. Johnson was later arrested with the murder weapon.

Cohen was found in possession of drugs and guns multiple times. On Jan. 28, 2019, police stopped him with digital scales, a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, methamphetamine, heroin, and $2,494 in cash. On Oct. 8, 2020, he was caught with another handgun as well as about 444 grams of methamphetamine (meth). On Feb. 23, 2021, Cohen was arrested at a St. Louis hotel with about 468 grams of fentanyl and 778 grams of methamphetamine (meth). He had a pistol in his car.

Burns pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin and conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; Judge Schelp sentenced her in March to 20 years in prison. Cohen pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin; he was sentenced to 18 years in prison in February.

The sentence for Johnson runs consecutive to a ten-year term he received for a separate case where he shot a Poplar Bluff police detective/Drug Enforcement Administration task force officer in the arm during an incident in 2018.

The Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force investigated this case along with assistance from other agencies including: Poplar Bluff Police Department; Butler County Sheriff’s Office; Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms & Explosives; Missouri State Highway Patrol.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation which identifies disrupts dismantles highest-level criminal organizations threatening United States using prosecutor-led intelligence-driven multi-agency approach Additional information about OCDETF Program can be found https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF