ATLANTA — The sentencing for a now-former Atlanta police officer who pleaded guilty to assaulting an unarmed, teenaged auto theft suspect in 2016 - a suspect who was surrendering to police - was, on Monday, delayed 30 days. The delay comes after the former officer's attorney claimed that his client had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Attorney Raemona Byrd Jones said Matthew Johns, a U.S. Marine who served two tours in Iraq from 2005-09 prior to joining the Atlanta Police Department, last week had a psychological evaluation indicating Johns was suffering from PTSD.
The attorney on Monday requested the additional time to prepare alternative sentencing proposals.
It was the second request for a sentencing delay.
Following Johns' guilty plea on July 10, Johns' attorney asked for a later sentencing date to conduct the PTSD evaluation. The attorney told the judge during Monday's sentencing hearing that Johns' evaluation took place on July 24, and the attorney requested another delay, for time to prepare arguments for leniency based on Johns' PTSD.
Johns had retained new representation after submitting his guilty plea.
Johns told the court then that he was diagnosed with PTSD and had sought treatment for it in the past. The judge on Monday wanted to know if Johns' previous attorney had ever sought an evaluation or why she did not submit one to the court in Johns' defense.
While Fulton County Superior Court Judge Constance Russell expressed some skepticism about the situation - coming so late in the case, on the verge of sentencing - she granted the second delay.
The prosecution asked to submit Johns to their own evaluation with their own psychologist, and the judge said they could.
The judge stressed that the sentencing would not be delayed again, and set Johns' sentencing for Aug. 26 at 1 p.m.
Psychologist Dr. Erik Fisher told 11Alive earlier this month that it was possible PTSD played a role.
"Here, you have somebody who is in a pursuit, their adrenaline is running," Fisher said. "They've had these chronic stress situations that are then gonna affect their ability to process current information."
The psychologist said it "doesn't excuse his actions" but that it "may be an explanation for a behavior."
Johns pleaded guilty in open court on July 10 to eight charges related to the incident: three counts of aggravated assault, aggravated assault strangulation, two counts of giving a false statement and two counts of violation of oath by a police officer. Johns faces up to 40 years in prison, but the prosecution has indicated it would recommend a five year sentence, including two years in prison.
It was during a September 2016 pursuit of a suspected stolen vehicle that Antraveious Payne got out and immediately surrendered to arriving officers.
Court documents indicated that Payne, who was 15 years old at the time and a passenger in the car, got out of the car, "immediately lying on the pavement with his hands up, showing he clearly did not possess a weapon and did not intend to resist."
According to court records, Johns ran toward Payne and kicked him three times in the head while he was laying on the ground before pressing his knee to the teen's neck.
Payne ended up being knocked unconscious by the assault, the court records said.