Phylicia Barnes Murder Retrial Postponed
BALTIMORE (AP) -- A new trial for a man accused of killing a North Carolina teenager has been postponed.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Alfred Nance granted the request from the state and defense on Tuesday, postponing Michael Johnson's trial until Oct. 1.
Johnson was convicted in February of murder in the death of 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes of Monroe, N.C. Barnes disappeared while visiting family during the 2010 Christmas holidays. Her body was found months later in the Susquehanna River.
Prosecutors said Johnson killed the teenager in her sister's apartment and used a tub to move the body.
Nance ordered a new trial for Johnson, ruling that prosecutors withheld evidence about their key witness. Johnson's attorneys said prosecutors waited weeks to provide information that James McCray had lied at trial about testifying in another case.
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