A former U.S. Army private, Austin Blair Johnson, was sentenced in Alexandria, Virginia to 15 years in prison for two counts of assault resulting in serious bodily injury and one count of sexual abuse. This sentence will be served consecutively to a 15-year sentence he is already serving for assault on an infant under Montana law.
Court documents detail that on June 24, 2012, while stationed at Fort Belvoir, Johnson assaulted his infant daughter, identified as Minor Victim 1 (MV1), who was just 15 days old and born prematurely. According to the records, Johnson shook MV1 forcefully before letting go of her, causing her to fall and land on her head.
Johnson then brought MV1 to her mother (Adult Victim 1 or AV1), claiming he had accidentally dropped the child but had broken her fall with his foot. The parents took MV1 to Fort Belvoir Community Hospital where she was found with a fractured skull and other injuries. She was transferred first to Walter Reed Medical Center’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and later diagnosed with extensive injuries requiring a ten-day hospitalization.
After being discharged from the hospital, MV1 was again left in Johnson’s care and suffered another episode of violent shaking and dropping at just 26 days old. The following day during a scheduled pediatric appointment at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, MV1 began having seizures and was taken back to the emergency room. She was then transferred to Children’s National Medical Center PICU where doctors found further injuries including another skull fracture and significant brain damage.
Following this series of events, Child Protective Services took custody of MV1 for about 14 months before returning her to Johnson and AV1. On June 22, 2015, after turning three years old, MV1 underwent surgery that removed the entire left side of her brain due to uncontrollable seizures.
As a result of these assaults, MV1 is now legally blind, non-verbal, paralyzed on the right side of her body, and has cognitive function comparable to that of a mature infant. Johnson has been ordered by the court to pay more than $1.1 million in restitution.
In addition to these incidents involving his daughter, Johnson sexually assaulted AV1 in their residence at Fort Belvoir in 2013 after she refused his advances.
"Erik S. Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Reid Davis, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office's Criminal Division; and Jake Cameron, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office, Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton."
"Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander E. Blanchard prosecuted the case."
Further information about this case can be found through public records on both the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia website and through PACER by searching Case No. 1:24-cr-151.
