'Grandmaster Jay' sentenced for pointing rifle at officers during Breonna Taylor protest

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- John Johnson, a militia leader who goes by the name "Grandmaster Jay," was sentenced Thursday in Jefferson Circuit Court to one year in prison for pointing a rifle at five police officers during the Breonna Taylor protests in 2020.

Johnson is already serving seven years and two months in prison after a federal court jury in May 2020 found him guilty of one count of "Assaulting, Resisting or Impeding" and one count of "Brandishing a Firearm in Relation to a Crime of Violence" for the same crime.

On Thursday, Johnson, 59, appeared in state court by teleconference and entered an Alford plea to five counts of wanton endangerment, meaning he maintained his innocence but acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence for a conviction.

Johnson told Judge Annie O'Connell that he agreed "the possibility is very high based on the evidence that a guilty" finding would be returned by a jury.

The prosecution recommend a one-year sentence for each wanton endangerment charge, to be served at the same time. That time will also run concurrently with the federal prison sentence.

"We agreed it's in his best interest to do this," said attorney David Lambertus, who represents Johnson.

Judge O'Connell accepted the recommended plea.

The incident took place while various groups were protesting at Jefferson Square Park in downtown Louisville in September 2020.

The Kentucky Derby was scheduled to run and those groups said they were demonstrating because they felt the race should not be taking place when no criminal charges had yet been filed in connection with the death of Taylor.

At that time, LMPD officers at the scene received a radio transmission stating that a group of "six to eight heavily armed individuals" were parked on Armory Place, near a parking garage, according to court documents.

Two federal officers and three LMPD officers then went to the top of the nearby Jefferson County Grand Jury Building to watch the group, but were blinded by a flashlight when they leaned over the roof, the affidavit claimed.

Prosecutors said the flashlight was attached to the barrel of a rifle Johnson was pointing at the officers.