Johnson takes plea agreement

A local woman was one of three people who pled guilty in separate cases when the District Court met in Childress on May 3.

Kristina Lynn Johnson, a 30-year-old Clarendon resident, pleaded guilty and was placed on deferred adjudication for a period of two years to a lesser included offense of assault.

Johnson was arrested by Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn on November 15, 2009, for the state jail felony offense of injury to a child. Johnson pleaded guilty to lesser included offense of the assault, after being indicted by the Donley County Grand Jury on January 13, 2010.

Pursuant to the plea agreement, Johnson is required to pay a $1,000 fine to Donley County, court costs of $333, and successfully complete 100 hours of community service.

If Johnson violates probation, she could face up to one year in the Donley County jail.

Officers were dispatched to a residence on McClelland Street on November 9, 2009, to investigate a possible crime.

“Our investigation determined that a three-year-old white female had been burned on her private area,” Sheriff Butch Blackburn told the Enterprise last November.

The contact burns were likely caused due to hot water, the sheriff said. The child was taken to Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo and then transferred to the Lubbock burn unit for treatment.

Johnson was arrested by the Childress County Sheriff’s Office on November 13 and placed in the Childress jail. Blackburn said he and Chief Deputy Randy Bond traveled to Childress and obtained a confession from the woman.

Luke Inman, the 100th Judicial District Attorney, assisted by Greg Buckley, prosecuted the cases for the State of Texas with the Honorable Judge Stuart Messer presiding.

Also, James Thomas Chitty, 52-year-old Athens, Texas resident, was convicted and sentenced to five years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Chitty was sentenced on the third degree felony of possession of a controlled substance.

Chitty was convicted of the third degree felony offense that he originally pleaded guilty to on November 21, 2008. Chitty was placed on probation for the offense that occurred on May 2, 2008, for a period of three years.

The State filed a motion to adjudicate the guilt of the defendant against Chitty on August 28, 2009, alleging eight violations of probation, which Chitty pleaded true on all of the State’s allegations.

Pursuant to the plea of true, Chitty is also required to pay a total fine of $3,000 to Childress County, $376 in court costs, in addition to the five-year penitentiary sentence.

Michael T. Thomas pleaded guilty and was placed on deferred adjudication for a period of three years for the state jail felony offense of possession of marihuana.

Thomas was arrested in Carson County on March 25, 2010. Thomas pleaded guilty to a complaint and information filed by the State on March 26, 2010.

Pursuant to the plea agreement, Thomas is required to pay a $3,000.00 fine to Carson County, court costs of $327.00, $140.00 in restitution and successfully complete 200 hours of community service.

If Thomas violates probation, he could face up to two years in the state jail division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
A total of $7,000 in fines was assessed as a result of the pleas on May 3. In addition to the fines, the defendants were required to pay a total of $1,036 in court costs and $140 in restitution.