Republican State Rep. Dan Johnson, who was accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl, died Wednesday night of a single gunshot wound in an apparent suicide.
Kentucky lawmaker accused of assault dies in apparent suicide
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Dan Johnson, a Republican state lawmaker in Kentucky who defiantly denied allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl in the basement of his home, died in an apparent suicide, the county coroner said.
The sexual assault accusations came amid a sexual harassment scandal involving other Republican lawmakers that unfolded at the state Capitol.
Bullitt County Coroner Dave Billings said Johnson died of a single gunshot wound Wednesday night on a road in Mount Washington, Kentucky. Billings said Johnson stopped his car at the end of a bridge in a secluded area, then got out and walked to the front of the car. He said an autopsy is scheduled for Thursday morning.
"I would say it is probably suicide," he said.
Johnson was elected to the state legislature in 2016, part of a wave of Republican victories that gave the GOP control of the Kentucky House of Representatives for the first time in nearly 100 years. He won his election despite Republican leaders urging him to drop out of the race after local media reported on some of his Facebook posts comparing Barack and Michelle Obama to monkeys.
The pastor of Heart of Fire church in Louisville, Johnson sponsored a number of bills having to do with religious liberty and teaching the Bible in public schools. But he was mostly out of the spotlight until Monday, when the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting published an account from a woman saying Johnson sexually assaulted her in the basement of his home in 2013.
At the time, the woman told police, who investigated the incident but closed the case and did not file charges.
On Tuesday, Johnson held a news conference in the pulpit of his church, which he began by leading friends and family in singing a portion of the Christmas carol "O Come All Ye Faithful." The 57-year-old said the allegations against him were "totally false" and said they were part of a nationwide strategy of defeating conservative Republicans. He referenced Republican Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, who faces accusations of sexual misconduct from multiple women.
Shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday, Johnson posted a message on his Facebook page that asked people to care for his wife. He wrote that PTSD "is a sickness that will take my life, I cannot handle it any longer. It has won this life, BUT HEAVEN IS MY HOME." The post appears to have been removed.
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"Michael Skoler, president of Louisville Public Media, which owns the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, said everyone at the organization is "deeply sad."
"Our aim, as always, is to provide the public with fact-based, unbiased reporting and hold public officials accountable for their actions," Skoler said. "As part of our process, we reached out to Representative Johnson numerous times over the course of a seven-month investigation. He declined requests to talk about our findings."
The sexual assault accusations against Johnson were revealed as a sexual harassment scandal involving four other Republican lawmakers was unfolding at the state Capitol. Former Republican House Speaker Jeff Hoover resigned his leadership position after acknowledging he secretly settled a sexual harassment claim with a member of his staff. Three other lawmakers were involved in the settlement, and all lost their committee chairmanships.
"I am very sad over the passing of Rep. Dan Johnson. Over the past few weeks in some of the darkest days of my life, he reached out to me, encouraged me, and prayed for me," Hoover posted on his Twitter account Wednesday night.
Republican Gov. Matt Bevin posted on his Twitter account that "my heart breaks for his family tonight."
"These are heavy days in Frankfort and in America," Bevin posted. "May God indeed shed His grace on us all. ... We sure need it.""
If he were innocent would he have killed himself?
Now no one will ever know.
"If he were innocent would he have killed himself?"
During a witch hunt? Quite possibly.
If only it were that easy.
Hillary did it.
Let that be a lesson to the gun grabbers.
The lesson should be to thumper pedophiles, use a shotgun and don't leave a post on FB. No conspiracy theory left here.
This has been all over the news, here in KY. I believe that impeachment proceedings have been launched against him. Not that I know for sure.
This sure is one way to solve a problem.
yep.
I feel bad for his accuser..... what a mess this man has made of several lives.
Good riddance to a human piece of excrement.
Where was Johnson's wife during these parties?
Why do women defend rapists instead of the victims? Is it societal conditioning that women are not to be trusted? That "good" girls aren't raped? That women ask to be raped according to how they walk, talk, and dress?
It is up to women in our society to stand up for the victims instead of the sexual predators. In order to accomplish that, we must first understand why we believe the rapists instead of their victims.
I just read an article that she (his wife) said she is going to run for his seat...
Since it's Kentucky, despite the fact that she is defending her teenage molesting husband, she'll probably get elected if she runs on the guns and God platform.
If you truly believe in Heaven....then you know you're not going there.
I thought that suicide was a sin among Christians?
And he would have made the perfect GOP presidential candidate too. Oh well, Johnson ain't the only bible thumping, gun nut rapist in the Republican sea, that's for damn sure.
Anymore when I hear someone proclaim to be a trump thumper, I can't help but assume they're a child molester.
Those on your side will often tell us that every democrat is a fag or a baby-murderer (are you one of those, by the way?) so, as the saying goes, you're reaping what you sow.
Not at all.
Johnson would have had to confess and repent of his sin of sexually violating his victim. Did not happen. He died proclaiming his victim a liar.
I used to be a Christian for 5 decades of my life. The promise of spending eternity with my rapist, as well as all of the rapists, pedophiles, murderers, wife and child abusers and other assorted vermin, never was something that I looked forward to. But, I also knew that according to the rules of confession and repentance, that there would be very, very few in Heaven because Yahweh knows all and does not bargain.
I consider his suicide an admission of guilt but this asshole tried to use it to cause further damage to his victim. I hope she's strong enough to not let that happen. He was apparently a "believer." He must then have believed in Hell. If there is one, I think a new deeper level of it was created just for him.
There is no such thing as strong enough to deal with sexual assault, especially as a teenager. It is compartmentalized and viewed from an emotional distance as if it actually happened to someone else. That is why it may take decades for a woman to finally admit publicly to being sexually violated. Most women never admit it to anyone.
Sexual violence affects a woman's emotional and physical health every day of their life. That is why I seek to understand a woman's life experiences to better understand their actions, reactions and overreactions when I have had to work with them.
My best friend's father had physically abused her with his fists and feet - even beating her to the floor and kicking her when she was 12 for not finishing some chore on the farm to his satisfaction. Her first husband beat her and her father-in-law raped her. She finally divorced her first husband. He remarried and raped his 17 yr old stepdaughter and committed suicide in order to avoid going to prison.
My best friend defended her ex-husband and said the 17 yr old asked to be raped. She is no longer my best friend or even my friend. I know what she has lived and even so, I just will not allow a woman that toxic to women to be in my life.
She demeaned her daughters at every opportunity and praised her son for just breathing.