to murder

By Jason Norman

Stacy Lovell Johnson will spend between 23 and 30 years in prison after entering into a plea agreement in the August murder of Rodney Faulk Friday

Johnson, 28, pleaded guilty to murder and using a firearm in the plea in Suffolk Circuit Court. A charge of discharging a firearm near a school was dropped.

Judge Carl Eason said he would sentence Johnson Sept. 1. The firearm charge carries an automatic three years sentence, with the murder carrying between 20 and 27 years. Johnson will remain at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail.

The case was originally scheduled to go to trial in March, but was continued when attorneys said they hadn’t had time to examine new evidence.

On the night of Aug. 28, police found Faulk in the 100 block of Halifax Street, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head. He died on the way to Obici Hospital.

In the next few weeks, witnesses and evidence indicated that Johnson had committed the crime. Johnson eluded capture for a month before surrendering to Portsmouth police in late September.

jason.norman@suffolknewsherald.com