By Jeremy Walsh
A Long Island City man has been found guilty of stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death more than three years ago, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Former Queensbridge Houses resident Erik Johnson, 43, was convicted of second-degree murder and weapon possession last Thursday in the death of Asma Johnson, 39. The jury of nine men and three women deliberated for two hours before handing down the verdict. Johnson faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced March 10 by Judge Gregory Lasak.
“The defendant violently and without justification stabbed his former girlfriend to death,” Brown said in a statement. “A jury swiftly agreed that the defendant is guilty and he is now facing up to life in prison. This verdict is a measure of justice for a woman whose life was senselessly cut short.”
Around 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 8, 2006, Erik Johnson forced his way inside Asma Johnson’s Queensbridge Houses apartment at 41-12 12th St. and stabbed her multiple times with a knife in her neck and torso.
As he fled down the stairs, Erik Johnson ran into his aunt and cousin and told them that he had done something bad or stupid, Brown said. The aunt and cousin went upstairs to Asma Johnson’s apartment, where they found her lying on the floor in a pool of blood with two stab wounds to her neck and two stab wounds to her stomach.
Asma Johnson, a mother of three who worked as a saleswoman and volunteered with the social services nonprofit East River Development Alliance, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Erik Johnson was arrested by police in the 114th Precinct five weeks after the murder.
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e-mail at jewalsh@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
