Trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson

Arne Cheyenne Johnson is a Connecticut resident who was convicted of first-degree manslaughter of his landlord Alan Bono on November 24th, 1981. It was the first murder in the history of Brookfield, Connecticut.

Events preceding the attack

On July 3rd, 1980, Arne Johnson's fiancee, Debbie Glatzel, discovered that her youngest brother David woke sobbing, claiming that he had a vision of an "awful beast", describing it as "a man with big black eyes, a thin face with animal features and jagged teeth, pointed ears, horns and hoofs", and saying it had warned him to "Beware". As his visions persisted, Debbie requested that Johnson come and stay at their home. A catholic priest came to their house and blessed it, but to seemingly no effect on David. The family then called upon demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren of Monroe, Connecticut to assist. Lorraine, who claims to be clairvoyant, stated that she saw a black, misty form next to David, indicating a malevalent presence, and that David complained of invisible hands chocking him, and the feeling of being hit. She also claims that afterwords, there were red marks on his neck. While staying with Debbie's family, Johnson supposedly began to taunt the demons that were said to be within David to possess his own body. As conditions within the house worsened, Debbie and Johnson moved out; Debbie was hired by Alan Bono, a newcomer to the town, as a dog groomer at the Brookfield Pet Motel, and given an nearby apartment to stay at. It was then that Johnson's behavior supposedly began to change, and made Debbie fear that he had become possessed as well. According to Debbie, Johnson would go into a kind of trance, where he would growl, and say he saw a beast, but later have no memory of it.

The attack

On February 16th, 1981 at approximately 6pm, Arne Johnson, accompanied by his fiance, approached his landlord, 40 year old Alan Bono, and repeatedly stabbed Bono in the chest with a 5 inch pocket knife, who died several hours later from his wounds. Johnson was discovered two miles from the site of the murder and was held at the Bridgeport Correctional Center on bail of 125,000 USD.

Legal Proceedings

Johnson's lawyer traveled to England to meet with lawyers who had been involved in two similar cases, planned to fly in exorcism specialists from Europe, and threatened to supoena the priests involved if they would not cooperate.

The trial took place in Danbury, Connecticut Superior Court beginning on October 28th, 1981. Johnson's lawyer entered the unprecedented plea of not guilty by virtue of possession by the devil, but the presiding judge, Robert Callahan, rejected Johnson's lawyers attempt to show that Johnson was under the influence of a demon at the time of the murder. The jury deliberated for 15 hours over three days before convicting Johnson.

Aftermath

Gerald Brittle wrote a book entitled The Devil in Connecticut, claiming that Johnson was possessed by demons at the time of the offense. The authors and book publishers are being sued for libel by the boys brothers, stating that the book is wholly untrue, and that their brother suffered from mental illness.