Longest-serving Caddo inmate gets his day in court and is convicted

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    SHREVEPORT, Louisiana (KTBS) — The longest-serving inmate at Caddo Correctional Center was convicted Thursday of attacking a jail nurse who had arrived to give him his medication.

Chester Lee Johnson Jr., 32, has been at CCC for nearly five years for crimes allegedly committed before he attacked the nurse. Delays in resolving his cases were attributed to COVID court shutdowns, questions about Johnson’s mental fitness to stand trial and turnover among the public defenders representing him. Johnson had rejected plea offers from prosecutors.

The legal merry-go-round ended Thursday evening when a six-person Caddo District Court jury found Johnson guilty as charged of felony battery of a corrections facility officer.

That crime carries a maximum five-year prison sentence, but prosecutors have the option of seeking an enhanced sentence of up to life in prison because of Johnson’s criminal past of multiple felony convictions. They have not said whether they will seek to have him sentenced as a multiple offender. He was returned to CCC after the verdict.

The jury was out 35 minutes before unanimously finding Johnson guilty of attacking the jail nurse. Authorities said Johnson rushed the nurse as his cell door opened and began hitting him before corrections officers could intervene. The nurse was taken to the hospital for stitches to his head.

At the time of the attack, Johnson was jailed on charges of robbing a woman at a west Shreveport hotel; pandering; and an altercation with a city police officer after the vice squad had busted Johnson’s girlfriend for prostitution.

Johnson has been held at CCC since July 2019. The delay in his trial underscored an issue plaguing the parish jail: Prolonged pretrial detentions contributing significantly to jail overcrowding. Former Sheriff Jay Long, who left office July 1, pointed to cases like Johnson’s as a primary cause of the facility’s large inmate population.

Johnson was evaluated by mental health experts who found mental issues but not to the level he could stand trial.

Johnson has prior convictions in Caddo Parish for aggravated second-degree battery; attempted possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; and illegal use of a weapon. He received sentences of three-, two- and two years, respectively, court records show.

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