The Colorado Springs Gazette

Trial begins for Springs Walgreens stabbing

Attorneys will pick a 12-person jury

BY ZACHARY DUPONT zachary.dupont@gazette.com

Jury selection began Monday in the trial of a Colorado Springs man accused of fatally stabbing a co-worker in a Walgreens breakroom last year.

Attorneys will pick a 12-person jury and two alternates from a pool of 75 potential jurors.

Joshua Johnson faces one charge of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of 17-year-old Riley Whitelaw, who died June

11, 2022, at the Walgreens on Centennial Boulevard and Flying W

Ranch Road.

Wh i t e l aw told her manager that Johnson made her feel uncomfortable and requested different hours so she would no longer have to work with him, according to police. But when Whitelaw asked for additional hours, her manager told her it would require her to work with Johnson.

Johnson was arrested a day

after Whitelaw’s death while walking along Interstate 25 outside Trinidad.

He was scheduled to go to trial May 8, but the case was delayed when the defense requested that he undergo a competency evaluation.

Separate evaluations concluded that Johnson was competent to proceed, and a trial date in September was scheduled.

Attorneys at Johnson’s pre-trial readiness conference said they anticipate the trial to take around two weeks, with opening statements expected to be given Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how long jury selection takes.

Johnson is being held at the El Paso County jail on a $10 million bond.

LOCAL & STATE

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2023-09-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-09-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.gazette.com/article/281784223715751

The Gazette, Colorado Springs