‘Claim responsibility’: Man pleads guilty to murder after hitting 70-year-old man

GASTONIA, N.C. — Robert Johnson read an apology aloud in court as he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for hitting and killing a 70-year-old pedestrian with his car.

James Harris was walking home from the library on East Garrison Boulevard in July. Video shows him crossing the road at a crosswalk, prosecutors said, when Johnson ran a red light and hit and killed Harris with his car.

Witnesses told police that Johnson was speeding at the time. His blood alcohol level was .3% at the time of the crash, around noon on a weekday, officials said. The legal limit is .08%.

Gastonia Police said Johnson had been too impaired or shaken at the time of the crash to take a field sobriety test. But while in court, Johnson was sober.

“What I caused to happen on that day was not my intention, but I’m here to claim responsibility for my actions and accept the consequences for what I have done,” he said.

Johnson got out of an in-house alcohol treatment facility weeks before the crash. But he had already begun relapsing.

“Mr. Johnson was aware that he was impaired and he tried to get help and he tried to do it the wrong way by driving himself,” defense attorney Nicholas Street said.

James Harris’ widow said she didn’t see the crash, but she is haunted by the witness accounts.

“I kept seeing him struck over and over in my head,” Janice Harris said.

Janice and James Harris were married for 32 years. She told Channel 9’s Ken Lemon that James was her constant companion.

“He was my sweetheart, my husband, my soul mate, my helper,” Janice said. “I wanted to die too.”

Johnson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He will spend the next 11 years in prison.

“We do not want revenge, but we do expect him to suffer the consequences of his actions,” Janice said.

She told Lemon that she is thankful for Johnson’s apology, but that she is still hurting. And the apology won’t bring back her soulmate.

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