Closing arguments expected in home invasion murder trial

TRENTON — Closing arguments are expected Wednesday at the trial of the guys named Johnson charged with killing a suburban golfer’s grown son during the invasion of a drug house in 2008.

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier set the schedule after a third unrelated Johnson, investigator Jonathan Johnson, was put on the stand Tuesday to counter key prosecution witness Kathiana Dorismond.

A friend of suspect Damien “Hanibal’’ Johnson, Dorismond testified early in the trial that she caught glimpses of a gun just after he received it in Camden and again outside her apartment in Hamilton.

Lawyer Kelly Smith Anderson, who is representing unrelated Brian Johnson, said the testimony of non- suspect Jon Johnson showed that Dorismond could not have seen the gun, as she testified, from the across the parking lot of her apartment complex off Nottingham Way.

Brian and Damien Johnson are charged with recognizing that heroin was being dealt from 1429 S. Clinton Ave., seven doors down from their house, and deciding to raid the house to steal money and narcotics.

They allegedly donned masks made of T-shirts and struck just as Monday night football was starting on Dec. 1, 2008. Damien Johnson allegedly was toting a .44-caliber magnum and shot Joe Costanzo, 38, in the chin when he spotted the victim in the living room with other drugged-out partiers waiting for the game to come on.

Another key government witness in need of a break for past crimes, Mohammed Al Bar, testified on Monday that “Hanibal’’ told him Costanzo owed him money for seven grams of cocaine.

In addition to Al Bar, formerly William Reese, Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Al Garcia has had to rely on at least two others with shady pasts to build the case against the Johnsons.

It also came out Tuesday that neither Johnson will take the stand to defend themselves against the robbery-murder charges. Though there is no allegation that he pulled the trigger, Brian Johnson is charged as a murder accomplice.

The judge wanted to know if Anderson would argue that her client had no intent of someone getting killed when he pulled the invasion. That posed her with a dilemma, however, because the defense has been that both Johnsons have been misidentified by witnesses telling authorities what they need to convict the suspects in return for easy treatment for themselves.