Baby Gabriel Johnson Mom: Court Orders Identification of Those Present During Her May Interview

July 9, 2010. Re: Baby Gabriel Johnson mother, Elizabeth Johnson. A court document dated 06/29/2010 shows that the Honorable Paul J. McMurdie ordered the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office to 'provide the identity of the individuals who were present during the interview of Defendant, Elizabeth Johnson'. The interview occurred on May 10, 2010 in the Maricopa County Estrella Jail Facility in the presence of Detective Salame with the San Antonio Police Department.

The case is the 'State of Arizona v. Elizabeth Joanne Johnson'. The attorney for the prosecution is Belle Whitney. The attorney for the defense is Nicholas M. Alcock, with Victim Services. The interview was ordered to occur today at 1:30 at the law offices of Alcock and Associates.

Elizabeth Johnson is responsible for the disappearance of her son Gabriel Scott Johnson, on December 26, when he was age seven months. She took him from their Tempe Arizona home to San Antonio, Texas. During their week-long stay, she allegedly negotiated for his adoption.

Whether the adoption was legal or illegal is not yet known to the public. Also unknown is if an adoption process was started when Johnson had full custody of Gabriel or when she shared joint custody with the court-declared natural father Logan Scott McQueary- to whom Johnson sent a text message saying she had killed the baby. Her story to Law Enforcement has consistently been that she gave Gabriel away to a couple whom she said she trusted, in a San Antonio park. Watch her jailhouse interview with KPHO, a CBS affiliate.

Johnson was arrested on December 30, 2009 at a Miami Florida youth hostel. She has since been in various jails on a 1.1 million-dollar cash-only bond. Her extradition from Florida to Arizona took place on January 9, 2010. After a hunger strike of two nearly weeks in April soon followed by an incident of spraying cleaning solution into the eyes of two inmates, who were uninjured, Johnson was given a psychiatric evaluation. She was said to have been a model inmate, by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, up until the hunger strike.

In June, Commissioner Steven Holding ruled that Johnson is incompetent to stand trial. He based his ruling on the determination made by two court-appointed doctors. According to her grandfather Bob Johnson, she had a troubled childhood that included living in five Boston Massachusetts foster homes as a child. Johnson's attorney, Nicholas Alcock, believes she is restorable and will be rehabilitated.

Update: 8/27/2010. According to the East Valley Tribune, Johnson's grandfather Bob Johnson said that his granddaughter had thought she would be getting out of jail due to a procedural error. "Elizabeth's attorney had her convinced that the charges were going to be dropped because of some kind of procedural error on the prosecution so her [maternal] grandmother paid the attorney $50,000 thinking the charges were going to get dropped," stated Bob Johnson.

Update: 8/27/2010. According to a three-page court document dated 8/12/2010, the State of Arizonas criminal case against Elizabeth Johnson involves two prosecuting attorneys and a host of professionals for the defense. In addition to her attorney Nicholas M. Alcock, the following are listed for the defense-Correctional Health Services; Correctional Health Services - Restore to Competency; Court Forensic Services Unit; Judge McMurdie; Victim Services Div-CA-SE. Among the several orders in the document, the court ordered a 'Rule 11 Evidentiary Hearing on September 27, 2010 at 9 a.m. before Judge Pro Tem Steven Holding'.

_{Resources: court documents; common knowledge;
'Baby Gabriel's mom in jail psych facility; refuses to eat' by Alicia E. Barrón, click here.
'Court: Johnson incompetent to stand trial in missing Baby Gabriel case' by Mike Sakal, click here.
'Lawyers for missing kids mom won't detail competency dispute' by Mike Sakal, click here.
Other sources are embedded.}