Terry Johnson

Case details

Terry Johnson (born 1969) was a single man. He had two children by different women.

He was convicted for the murder of Connecticut State Trooper Russell Bagshaw.

The offence

Terry Johnson and his brother Duane were burglarizing a gun shop when Trooper Russell Bagshaw arrived at the scene. Before Bagshaw could get out of his cruiser, Terry Johnson fired a semiautomatic pistol into the darkness. One of his bullets found a gap in Bagshaw’s bulletproof vest.

Trooper Russell A. Bagshaw, 28, was shot and killed when he interrupted a burglary at a sporting goods store.

Investigation and arrest

Terry Johnson pleaded guilty to the murder.

Trial

His brother Duane received life in prison without parole.

Duane was tried as an accomplice. He was 18 at the time and was described as barely involved, with Terry Johnson having dragged him along.

Terry and Duane Johnson were vilified by the press as “cop killers.”

Sentencing

Terry Johnson was sentenced to death for the murder. He was sentenced to death on June 10, 1992.

His sentence was later reduced from the death penalty to life in prison without parole in May 2000.

Other details

Terry Johnson’s prison remarks included the following statements, including:

"You try to keep as low profile as you can to keep from getting flak. You know you'll be walking down the hall..."You're getting the electric chair, Joe." They'll make buzzing noises or "You're going to fry"

Terry Johnson said:

"...I was doing things to impress friends & help friends. Do things to try to impress family members. Doing everything for people for all the wrong reasons... When I grew up I used to do a lot of things: take cars, break into businesses, steal cars, motorcycles, the whole nine yards.... I was like the center of attention. And when I'd steal something, like, a car stereo, or something, it wasn't for the money. It wasn't for the object. I'd get it & I'd end up giving it to my friends, because I thought that's what I needed to do to please them..."

He also stated about his family:

"Two of my older brothers are in the military. One's in the Marine Corps, one's in the Navy. He's a sergeant down in Key West, Florida. One of my other family members, my sister's a bus driver. My other brother works in a factory, electronic factory. My other brother is going to college, right now, for criminal law."

He said:

"...being afraid how my father would feel that I got my brother involved. My younger brother was my father's-hate to say it-apple of his eye. My father's life revolved around my little brother. To have one son taken away was devastating but to have two at once is a total big loss. And at my father's age & everything. My brother Duane was all he had left living in the house with him."

He stated about prison:

"It shows that everybody can make mistakes. Everybody gets in trouble. Jail isn't prejudiced. It lets in white, Black, Indian, Hispanic, Mexican, thin, fat, strong, short, men, women, & children. Jail is not prejudiced. There's no certain quota... When somebody hears of a crime & they hear of somebody being on death row, the first thing they think of is like, Charles Manson. Somebody deranged lunatic. They pick up the paper & they say, "Man, if I ever saw that dude on the street, I'd know for sure that he was a monster." It's not that way, at all."

He had been charged only with misdemeanors prior to the murder.

He had also done a short in the National Guard.

Timeline

• June 5, 1991 — Date of offense
• June 10, 1992 — Sentenced to death
• May 2000 — Sentence reduced from the death penalty to life in prison without parole