Scott Johnson’s murder case has taken a new twist after Scott White pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of his Cliff. This article will tell you more about his death case. Scott Russell Johnson was a murdered American undergraduate student in Australia in 1988.
Although police initially suspected suicide, a coroner’s inquest in 2017 determined that “[he] died as a result of a gay-hate attack.” An Australian man was arrested in May 2020, charged in January 2022, and convicted of murdering Johnson with homophobia as his motivation. Scott Russell Johnson was born on November 27, 1961, in the American state of California’s Los Angeles County.
In 1983, he moved to England to study mathematics at the University of Cambridge. Johnson’s naked body was discovered on rocks at the base of cliffs in North Head, near Manly, New South Wales, on December 10, 1988. His belongings and clothing were discovered on top of the cliff. Steve Johnson, his brother, disputed the police account of his death, which was initially ruled a suicide.
Scott Johnson Murder Case: Scott White Pleads Guilty To Manslaughter In Connection With Cliff Death in 1988
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Scott White was arrested in connection with the death of American national Scott Johnson in Sydney in 1988 and was found guilty of manslaughter after having a murder conviction overturned on appeal and previously claiming his innocence. The death of Scott Johnson, whose body was discovered at the foot of cliffs at a gay beat in Manly in 1988, is one of the city’s longest-running mysteries.
Scott Phillip White was arrested for his death years later. He surprised his attorneys by pleading guilty to murder during a pre-trial meeting, but he quickly tried to withdraw the plea. Scott White was found guilty of killing Scott Johnson in 1988 after changing his plea to guilty on January 13, 2022. He initially entered a not-guilty plea, but changed it to convicted on January 10, 2022.
The following day, the Supreme Court denied his petition to have it withdrawn on the grounds that White was unfit to make the admission. On May 3, he was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in prison, with an additional 8 years and 3 months non-parole term, based on the laws in effect at the time of the murder and White’s own unique circumstances.
“That it was a gay hate crime,” the judge said, “is not a closure that the Court can reach to the criminal standard.”
Furthermore, on February 23, 2023, White appeared in the NSW Supreme Court to face a new accusation before Justice Robert Beech-Jones. White claimed he was not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
“Do you understand that by pleading guilty to manslaughter, you’re accepting legal responsibility for his death but not for killing him?” the judge asked.
“Yeah, I do,” Scott White said as he sat in the dock with a solicitor.
Scott Johnson: Who Was He?
Scott Russell Johnson was born in Los Angeles County, California, on November 27, 1961. He came from a very loving and supportive family. Despite being born in the United States, he moved to England in 1983 to pursue a degree in mathematics at the University of Cambridge.
Johnson met Australian musicologist Michael Noone at Cambridge and fell in love with him there. Johnson left UC Berkeley in 1986 to pursue his Ph.D. at the Australian National University and to be with Noone. He then moved to Canberra on a student visa to complete his degree.
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