Trial Scheduled in Slaying of Deputy

The murder trial of a 49-year-old Ventura man accused of fatally shooting a county sheriff’s deputy last year has been set for Sept. 2.

The trial date for Michael Raymond Johnson was set at a hearing Friday before Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren, who will preside over the capital case.

“We expect to be doing motions continually up to that point,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew J. Hardy III.

Earlier this week, Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury decided to seek the death penalty against Johnson in the July 19 slaying of Deputy Peter J. Aguirre Jr.

Johnson has pleaded not guilty to murder and four other charges in connection with the shooting at the home of Johnson’s estranged wife in Meiners Oaks.

Aguirre and three other officers were sent to the woman’s home to investigate a domestic disturbance. Aguirre was shot after walking into the house with his gun still holstered.

Prosecutors say Johnson burst naked from a shower, firing at Aguirre from several yards away. They say he then walked over to the fallen deputy and shot him once in the head at point-blank range.

Defense attorneys have suggested that Johnson was suffering from a delusional disorder--brought on in part by a tour in Vietnam in the late 1960s--that caused him to act crazy the day of the shooting.