Mitchell Johnson, school shooter up for sentencing, jailed again

LITTLE ROCK (AP) - Police said Jonesboro school shooter Mitchell Johnson, already facing sentencing on a federal weapons charge, has been arrested for misdemeanor drug possession.

Bentonville police Lieutenant Jon Simpson said the 23-year-old was arrested at a Fast Trip convenience store Saturday night where he worked as a clerk. Simpson says officers arrived at the store just before 8 p.m. after receiving a call that someone lost their credit card there and the card had been used by someone else.

Simpson said Johnson allowed officers to search his pockets, where they found a bag containing marijuana. The whole package weighed 1.8 grams.

Johnson's arrest likely means he will remain in county jails until Judge Jimm Larry Hendren sentences him to as much 10 years of prison time for the federal conviction. Deputy U.S Marshall Mark Spellman says federal probation officers and prosecutors wanted Hendren to revoke Johnson's $5,000 bond, but the judge was in a jury trial today.

Prosecutors filed a request this afternoon to have Johnson's bond revoked.

A federal jury convicted Johnson last week of possessing a gun while being a user of or addicted to a controlled substance stemming from a New Year's Day 2007 arrest in northwest Arkansas. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In 1998, Johnson, then 13, and Andrew Golden, then 11, shot at students and teachers at Jonesboro Westside Middle School after Golden pulled a fire alarm. The boys killed English teacher Shannon Wright and students Natalie Brooks, Paige Herring, Stephanie Johnson and Britthney Varner. They wounded 10 others.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)