Flint man sentenced for beating girlfriend

Published 9:20 am Thursday, April 30, 2015

TYLER (KYTX) – The Smith County District Attorney’s office secured a life sentence Wednesday for a Flint man with a history of committing felonies.

56-year-old Michael Benjamin Johnson defended himself during a two-day trial in the 241st District Court, in which visiting judge Jerry Calhoun was presiding.

“The facts of this case were pretty simple,” Assistant District Attorney Lucas Machicek said. “It all started because he thought his girlfriend stole his tools.”

Machicek said Johnson went on a tirade which led to him trapping his girlfriend in an RV, tying her up with duct tape, beating her with a wrench and choking her with his bare hands. She was injured, but she survived.

Johnson was tried on a charge of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly weapon, listed initially as a second-degree felony. For sentencing purposes, his crime was enhanced to first-degree punishment range, Machicek said, due to a prior conviction for Felony False Imprisonment out of California.

Machicek said it took the jury two minutes to find Johnson guilty and another twenty to agree to a life sentence.