http://www.freep.com/article/20110309/NEWS01/110309029/1003/Jury-convicts-Detroiter-murder-foil-federal-drug-money-laundering-probe

A federal jury today convicted a Detroit man of plotting the murder of a used car dealer so that he wouldn’t talk to the feds about a drug and money laundering investigation.

Herman N. Johnson, 43, who initially faced the death penalty in the case, was convicted on all three counts in the indictment: conspiring to murder someone to keep them from providing information about a federal crime; aiding and abetting in the murder of a federal witness; and being a felon in possession of a gun.

Johnson, who faces life in prison, was charged in the 2005 death of Waad Murad, 39, of West Bloomfield, the owner of a high-end used car dealership who was gunned down at his Detroit lot in 2005. Authorities said Murad was killed at the behest of a drug dealing customer who feared he was an informant. Johnson, who planned the killing, received $2,000 for his role, they said.

Eleven days after the killing, authorities said, tipsters led federal agents to Johnson’s home, where they found the murder weapon, took Johnson into custody, and eventually got his confession.

“He admitted. ‘I planned this murder. I participated in this murder. And I profited in this murder,'” Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Lemisch told jurors in closing arguments Tuesday. “Mr. Johnson was the biggest tipster in this case.”

According to trial testimony from agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Johnson admitted to them that he planned the killing two weeks in advance and served as the lookout in a getaway car. The actual shooter, Gibran Gotcher, was sentenced in February to life in prison after a jury convicted him in January.

Adarus M. Black, the drug-dealing customer authorities say ordered the hit, is serving life in prison after being convicted in 2009 of hauling cocaine and marijuana cross-country by the busloads.

During closing arguments Tuesday, Henry Scharg, Johnson’s lawyer, argued that the murder weapon was planted, that federal agents tried to coerce a false confession from his client, and that there was never a signed confession. He also argued that tipsters set up his client because they only wanted a $50,000 reward that was being offered by Murad’s family.

“Their motivation was easy money,” Scharg said.

Johnson will be sentenced June 20.