Calvin Johnson

The Crime

In the early morning hours of March 9, 1983, a woman in her 20s was raped in her home in Clayton County in the city of College Park, Georgia. Afterwards, the attacker stole around thirty dollars and left. 

The victim described her attacker as a soft-spoken Black man who sounded “educated.”

Two evenings earlier, another woman in College Park, whose home was in Fulton County, had been raped in a similar manner. 

The Investigation

Detectives focused on 25-year-old Calvin Johnson Jr. as a suspect, believing these two attacks resembled a rape that he had been charged with in 1981. At the time, Mr. Johnson had pleaded guilty to burglary and the rape charge was dismissed.

The Clayton County victim selected Mr. Johnson as her attacker in a photographic array, but later failed to identify him in a live lineup. Conversely, the Fulton County victim failed to identify Mr. Johnson in a photographic array, but did identify him in a live lineup.

On March 14, 1983, Mr. Johnson was arrested and charged with rape, aggravated sodomy, and burglary in both cases. Both victims identified him at a preliminary hearing. The prosecution presented evidence that clothes matching the victims’ descriptions were found in Mr. Johnson’s home. These items included an army camouflage jacket and a striped green sweater.

The Trial

In November 1983, Mr. Johnson went to trial in Clayton County Superior Court for the March 9, 1983 attack. On the stand, the victim identified him as her attacker. Allowed to testify, the victim in the Fulton County case also identified Mr. Johnson as her attacker. 

A crime lab analyst testified that only 36% of the male population could be excluded as the source of the biological evidence. Because serology testing showed that the victim and the perpetrator shared the same blood group markers, the victim’s blood type could have masked the perpetrator’s blood type so that no male suspect could be excluded.

The defense presented evidence that a hair in the rape kit had been compared to Mr. Johnson’s hair, and that he had been excluded as the source. The prosecution suggested that the hair had come from a public toilet or a laundromat where the victim took her clothes.

Four witnesses, including Mr. Johnson’s employer, testified for the defense that he was elsewhere at the time of the crime.

On Nov. 7, 1983, an all-white jury took 45 minutes to convict Mr. Johnson on all charges. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

In September 1984, Mr. Johnson went to trial in Fulton County Superior Court for the earlier rape. Although the victim identified him as her attacker, and the victim in the Clayton County case also identified him as the rapist in her case, Mr. Johnson was acquitted by a jury.

The Exoneration

Mr. Johnson’s conviction in the Clayton County case was affirmed in 1989. 

On April 26, 1994, Mr. Johnson, after his case had been taken on by the Innocence Project, made an Extraordinary Motion for a New Trial to have the rape kit submitted for DNA testing.

On Nov. 11, 1997, LabCorp reported that it was unable to reach a conclusion. The evidence was then sent to Forensic Science Associates, a California DNA laboratory. After conducting tests on the evidence, the lab issued a report concluding that Mr. Johnson was not the source of the biological evidence in the case.

On June 15, 1999, Judge Matthew O. Simmons vacated Mr. Johnson’s convictions and ordered a new trial. The prosecution then dismissed the case.

Mr. Johnson subsequently was awarded $500,000 in compensation by the state of Louisiana.

Mr. Johnson was among the inaugural board of directors for the Innocence Project. He also served on the board of the Georgia Innocence Project. 

In September 2003, his book Exit To Freedom was published by the University of Georgia Press. Co-authored by Dr. Greg Hampikian, the book chronicled Mr. Johnson’s wrongful arrest, conviction, imprisonment, and the events that led to his exoneration. 

Mr. Johnson died in January 2023. He was 65 years old.