SAN DIEGO (CNS) — A man who fatally stabbed his stepfather at their Rancho Bernardo home has been convicted of first-degree murder.
Pablo Johnson, 26, was found guilty by a San Diego jury on Tuesday of killing 61-year-old Michael Johnson at their Caminito Campana home on the evening of Jan. 28, 2024.
According to trial testimony, the victim sustained over 100 stab wounds and cuts, mostly to his head, face and neck.
A woman walking her dog just before 6 p.m. saw a bloody Michael Johnson draped over the railing of the home's patio and called 911.
Officers arrived a short time later and arrested Pablo Johnson, while Michael Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene.
Deputy District Attorney Cassidy McWilliams told jurors that the relationship between the defendant and victim had grown contentious over what she said was the defendant's unwillingness to work or take care of chores around the residence.
Jurors were shown text messages between the pair that displayed escalating arguments over household chores and living expenses, which culminated in a physical altercation one day before the killing.
McWilliams said the defendant attacked his stepfather on Jan. 28 and stabbed him with enough force to break the knife into multiple pieces.
Deputy Public Defender Leanne Skirzynski said what occurred on the evening of Jan. 28 was more akin to a mutual fight, which she said was sparked by the victim.
She told jurors Michael Johnson had been consistently abusive to her client and had physically assaulted him on numerous prior occasions.
She said that yet another argument between the pair on Jan. 28 resulted in Michael Johnson charging at her client in the home's kitchen, prompting Pablo Johnson to grab the first thing he could to defend himself, which was a knife.
Both men armed themselves with knives and during the ensuing melee, Skirzynski said, her client was "flailing" his knife, rather than targeting any particular place on his stepfather's body.
Another knife found near Michael's body bore none of her client's DNA, she said.
The prosecutor said that while Michael Johnson had a litany of stab wounds and other injuries, Pablo Johnson had virtually no wounds to his body, other than a pair of small cuts to his hands, which she said were likely accidental self-inflicted wounds sustained during the fatal attack.
