POUGHKEEPSIE – Thirty-six-year-old “Courtyard Killer” Roy Johnson Jr., previously sentenced to 58 years in prison for killing a man in a Town of Poughkeepsie hotel in October 2022 is back in court on another murder charge. He now stands accused of murder and robbery for the August 2022 murder of Darren Villani in the City of Poughkeepsie.
Johnson was indicted in April of this year for participating in the Villani robbery and murder along with Devin Taylor, his Courtyard accomplice. Taylor has already entered a guilty plea for the murder of Villani admitting to shooting the victim in the torso with a .45 caliber Glock while Johnson and he were trying to rob him.
Court documents say that Taylor and Johnson planned the robbery and execution of Villani in advance. After Taylor shot Villani in the middle of Mansion Street between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m., he walked up to the victim and removed a gold chain from his neck. Johnson, who had been in the front seat of Villani’s car moments before, walked over to the dead body for a minute, then walked to the victim’s car, took an undetermined amount of cash, and returned to the body again. Johnson leaned over, removed Villani’s watch and a second gold chain, the victim’s watch, and then fled the scene.
Johnson was wearing the victim’s watch when he committed the Courtyard murder.
Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office Bureau Chief Bob Knapp opened the trial and told the jury on Wednesday morning they would see video footage from the Warring Elementary School camera. “You will see the victim fighting for his life.” The defendant and the victim were in a physical altercation on Mansion Street just moments before Johnson’s accomplice Taylor, shot Villani.
Wearing the same suit that he wore during his previous murder trial, Johnson listened to his attorney, Joseph Gulino, deny that the robbery and murder were premeditated, contrary to the prosecution’s assertion. “If this was such…
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