Homeless in Arizona

I don't like Elizabeth Johnson's attorney Marc Victor. His law firm owes me $3,000 and I doubt if I will every see a penny of it.

His law firm got $10,000 for me and agreed to charge me 20% or $2,000. They only gave me $5,000 and kept the other $5,000 which is $3,000 more then we agreed on.

They gave me a line of BS, that they had to hold the other $3,000 just in case something happened, and of course I haven't seen a penny of it.

I was dumb enough to use Marc Victors law firm, not once, but twice. I guarantee I will NEVER use Marc Victor's law firm again.

Source

'Baby Gabriel' mom Elizabeth Johnson admits probation violation, to remain jailed until April 21

Megan Cassidy, The Republic | azcentral.com 6:22 p.m. MST April 14, 2016

A judge has ordered that the mother of missing "Baby Gabriel" have her probation reinstated, although she will wear an electronic monitor upon her departure from a Maricopa County jail. She is scheduled to be released April 21.

Elizabeth Johnson, 29, admitted to one of the alleged violations of her terms of probation at a Thursday afternoon hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court. Johnson acknowledged that she did leave New Mexico — her new state of residence — without permission in July 2015.

The state agreed to dismiss all other allegations.

The seven additional days Johnson will spend in custody were a considerably leaner punishment than the 60 days Maricopa County prosecutors had sought.

Defense attorney Marc Victor argued that his client should be released Thursday. He asked Judge Charles Donofrio to consider the 15 days Johnson has spent in custody since her latest arrest.

Although Donofrio's decision largely favored the defendant, it came with a withering assessment of Johnson and fellow Millennials.

"People of your generation do not want to surrender to authority," he said shortly before issuing his sentence. "Being on probation means that you have to follow the rules. These are dumb mistakes that you made, but they are mistakes showing that you don’t want to submit to authority."

Johnson was returned to Phoenix last week and was booked into Maricopa County's Fourth Avenue jail.

She had been extradited from New Mexico, where she was arrested on several allegations of violating the terms of her probation.

Authorities said Johnson failed to report contact with law enforcement to the New Mexico probation agency within three days, failed to get approval before traveling out of the state or associating with a person with a criminal record and failed to notify probation officials when she got married last year.

None of the allegations stems from the original case of Johnson's missing son. Gabriel, then 8 months old, disappeared in December 2009.

Johnson was arrested in connection with the missing boy, and a jury in December 2012 found her guilty of unlawful imprisonment, custodial interference and conspiracy to commit custodial interference.

Johnson was released from Arizona's Perryville prison in July 2014. She had banked nearly three years of credit for time served in jail while awaiting trial.

She is currently on probation for her conviction of conspiracy to commit custodial interference.

When arguing for more jail time on Thursday, Assistant Maricopa County Attorney Angela Andrews described Johnson as insubordinate with no respect for her probation. Andrews highlighted some of the more troubling details of the allegations: When she left New Mexico, Johnson was visiting a woman she met in prison, and she lied to probation officials about being married.

"Miss Johnson likes to do what she wants to do when she likes to do it," Andrews said.

Andrews also read a letter from Logan McQueary, Gabriel's father. McQueary talked about being stripped of the chance to see his son grow up with his other children, and how complete strangers seemed to care more about Gabriel's whereabouts than Johnson.

"I personally don’t believe she’s felt remorse or changed her ways,” he said.

Her attorney highlighted the positive aspects of Johnson's current life. Victor said she is a successful car saleswoman in New Mexico and is taking classes full time.

He also underscored that all of the recent allegations were technical, not criminal violations.

"Are these the types of violations, that would make me — speaking as a citizen — that would make me worry about her living in the community?” he said.

Johnson's plan to return to New Mexico could take some time, because she has to go through another application process. Victor said he and Johnson's husband would help find her temporary housing in Arizona.

Given the chance to make a statement, a tearful Johnson apologized for the "stupid decisions" she made.

"It has been a struggle for me the last few years," she said, wearing gray striped inmate garb. "I understand that I need to do better, and I’m doing better. In the past six months, I believe I’ve overcome a lot of personal issues ... I’m sorry."

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In December 2009, the Tempe mother fled to Texas with Gabriel after losing a custody battle. Investigators said she stayed for about a week, then took a bus to Florida without the boy.

Two days after Christmas, Johnson texted McQueary: "I killed him. You made me do it."

She described suffocating the baby and dumping his body in the trash.

After her arrest, Johnson changed her story. She said she had given Gabriel to a couple in a park in San Antonio. Johnson never identified the pair and never veered from the story.

Gabriel has never been found.

Although a cloud of suspicion followed Johnson, she was not charged with murder, and a jury was unable to reach a verdict on the kidnapping charge. A kidnapping conviction would have carried as many as 24 years in prison.