Trial underway for 2022 attempted murder suspect in Lamar County

PURVIS, Miss. (WDAM) – Trial has begun in Lamar County for a man accused of multiple burglaries and shooting at a deputy in 2022.

Jury selection for the trial of Troy Johnson began Monday morning, with opening statements taking place after lunch at the Lamar County Courthouse in Purvis.

In December 2022, Johnson was arrested after allegedly participating in several burglaries, fatally shooting Lamar County Deputy Steve Pazos, and leading law enforcement on a three-hour manhunt.

Nine witnesses were called during the session.

Investigator Scott Wagner was the first to speak.

The prosecution presented as evidence, as its first exhibit, a map of the area where the alleged incidents took place.

Anthony Brown was the second witness to testify on behalf of the prosecution.

Brown testified that he woke up Dec. 12 to three or four people on his back porch.

Neighbors gathered outside their homes, where they reported seeing people around their cars and missing items.

When Brown checked his vehicle, he discovered that two guns and a pair of tennis shoes had been stolen and that the battery was dead.

A 9mm pistol was recovered by law enforcement and entered into evidence as Exhibit Two.

Gale Thompson was the third witness to take the stand for the prosecution.

Thompson reported that she woke up and noticed her Ring camera had noticed someone on her property.

Ring camera footage was shown showing a person wearing a red hoodie walking through the Thompson parking lot.

A USB drive containing Ring camera footage and a screenshot of the video were entered into evidence as Exhibits Three and Four.

Samantha Evans was called to the stand as the fourth prosecution witness.

Evans said she was preparing to go to a Christmas party with her three daughters and had ordered pizza for her sons who would be staying home. As she was leaving, she saw a person wearing a white hoodie near a vehicle and thought it was the pizza delivery man.

However, Evans then realized the person was rummaging through his vehicle. She tried to confront him and he ignored her.

Evans ordered her daughters back into the house, then called 911.

The prosecution then called Brandon Lee to the stand.

According to Lee, her daughter went to leave their pets outside and noticed that the lights inside their vehicle were on, and could only be activated if the car doors were opened.

Lee’s daughter then reported that she saw someone running between yards near the house, who then jumped the fence.

Lee called law enforcement and Pazos was the responding officer.

Footage from Lee’s security cameras was later played in court, showing a person with a flashlight looking into the vehicles. The USB drive containing these images was introduced into evidence as Exhibit Five.

The defense questioned whether Lee could identify the person in the footage as Johnson.

“It sounded like me,” Lee said.

The prosecution then called Jennifer Upton to the stand.

Upton saw the suspect on his security cameras while on his property.

Upton said she saw the suspect holding a flashlight and trying to open her locked vehicle. The suspect then broke into his daughter’s car and stole her purse which contained her car keys. Upton then called 911 to report the incident.

To prevent the car from being stolen, the responding officer advised her to place the other car directly behind her daughter’s car.

The purse was then recovered by law enforcement at the end of the aisle.

Jeremiah and Christa Stafford (husband and wife) were called by the prosecution as their next witnesses.

The Staffords were not home when the crime occurred. Jérémie was in Belzoni while Christa looked after her brother-in-law’s child in their neighboring house.

During the trial, Jeremiah testified that he was alerted on his phone that his Ring camera had detected movement on their property. He called 911.

He then saw someone trying to break into his house. Jeremy watched the person continually enter and leave the house around 7:35 p.m.

The suspect could be seen taking one of the Stafford children’s motorcycles out of the garage. The bike was later found in nearby woods.

About twenty minutes later, the suspect entered the house and stole a 12 gauge shotgun from Jeremiah’s closet.

USB drives and photographs depicting these images and incidents were entered into evidence under numbers 9A, 9B, 9C and 9D.

During Christa’s testimony, she said she was also alerted by her Ring camera. The defense objected to Christa’s appearance on the stand, saying it was “repetitive in nature.”

Judge Richelle Lumpkin allowed Christa to continue, saying she was “just getting started.”

Christa called her stepfather, not 911 when she was first alerted. She also said she did not lock the doors to her house when she left.

Jeremiah had already called 911, who arrived on scene shortly after the call.

Christa entered the home with law enforcement and discovered that cabinets were open, her son’s money had been stolen, and several items in the home had been searched.

Ultimately, the prosecution called former deputy Brayden Hodge to the stand.

Hodge was the responding officer at the Stafford home and arrived around 8 p.m.

He said he noticed the back door of the house was open and ordered Christa and her stepfather to stay in the vehicle while he conducted a security search of the house.

Jeremiah then began communicating with Hodge on the Ring camera to tell him that someone had just left the house approximately two minutes ago.

Hodge sent a potential description of the suspect and quickly learned that someone had allegedly jumped the fence at the nearby Latter-day Saint church.

Hodge reported the foot pursuit began toward the woods as law enforcement attempted to establish a perimeter. Shortly afterward, he said he heard five or six gunshots.

Hodge said he ran to his vehicle and drove to the area where the incident occurred. There, he discovered that Pazos had been shot and that medical treatment was underway.

While Pazos was being treated, Hodge and other officers began providing security and clearing the scene. He found a flashlight and some clothing at the edge of the woods, but did not have time to preserve them as evidence due to the active crime scene and active danger.

A perimeter was established around the area and the suspect was apprehended later that night.

The court dismissed shortly before 5 p.m.

The trial continues at 9 a.m. Oct. 17 in Purvis.

Follow WDAM 7 for updates as the trial continues.

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