SALT LAKE CITY — The wife of a West Jordan man charged with robbing and killing a young couple in their home won’t serve any more jail time after she agreed to testify against her husband.
Sina Johnson, 30, pleaded guilty Monday in 3rd District Court to a reduced charge of attempting to obstruct justice, a third-degree felony. In exchange and as part of a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to her immediate release from the Salt Lake County Jail, where she has been held for more than three months.
Johnson admitted Monday that she cleaned blood from her home and threw away Albert Enoch Johnson’s bloodied clothes after the April 18 killings of Tony and Katherine Butterfield, court records show. The terms of her plea agreement stipulate she will testify against her husband.
Prosecutors say Albert Johnson knew the Butterfields, but have not said how. They allege he broke into their West Jordan home and demanded money before eventually leaving with just $20 and a pair of cellphones. He returned to retrieve his keys from their home, charging documents say, then shot the couple after Tony Butterfield tried to block him from coming back inside.
The Butterfields’ three young children — ages 4, 2, and 6 months — were inside the home at the time but were uninjured, police said.
Judge Randall Skanchy sentenced Sina Johnson Monday to three years of probation and prohibited her from contact with her husband or the Butterfields’ family. The judge suspended a prison term of up to five years, meaning she could still go to prison if she violates her probation.
Sina Johnson originally faced a charge of obstructing justice, a second-degree felony carrying up to 15 years in prison.
Her husband, 31, returns to court Friday on charges including two counts of aggravated murder, a capital offense.
West Jordan police said Johnson fled the state after the killings and headed to Stockton, California, where he was arrested April 22.