A former felon released from prison less than a year ago has been charged with murdering another man in his New York City apartment, cutting him up and leaving his head in a freezer.
Sheldon Johnson, 48, a prominent criminal justice reform advocate interviewed by podcaster Joe Rogan last month, also works with the Queen’s Defenders legal group.
The NYPD is now accusing Johnson of fatally shooting his 44-year-old rival, Colin Small, at his Bronx apartment on Tuesday. Officers arrived around 10 p.m. and initially found only Small’s headless torso.
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Ex-convict Sheldon Johnson, who claims he turned his life around before New York City police arrested him on second-degree murder charges, poses for a photo with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. (Sheldon Johnson/Instagram)
At the scene, two dead legs were found in a plastic trash can under the torso. FOX5 New York report. Police allegedly found Small’s head, legs and arm stuffed in a freezer in Johnson’s Harlem apartment.
New York Department of Corrections records show both Johnson and Small have served time in prison.
Neighbors said they heard a man’s voice begging for mercy just before two gunshots shook the apartment. Johnson has been seen coming and going in various disguises since the murder, the newspaper said. new york post.
According to the newspaper, the man said, “Please stop.” “I have a family.”
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Sheldon Johnson Jr. (center) is photographed in police custody as he leaves the NYPD’s 44th Precinct building in the Bronx on Thursday, March 7, 2024, in New York City. (Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The newspaper said the murder suspect has been busy since being released from prison last year, working as a defense lawyer at Queen’s Defenders. The Queen’s Defenders is one of several public defender agencies that asked for hundreds of millions of dollars in funding last year, officials said. daily news.
Last month, the group also praised the work of City University of New York law professor Stephen Zeidman, who was instrumental in securing Johnson’s pardon.
Johnson shared a photo on Instagram of himself smiling and shaking hands with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Last month, he appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
Bragg’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
In another photo, Johnson appears to be posing alongside the CFO of the Brooklyn Nets NBA team, and in another, he writes, “Prison increases the risk of recidivism… at the expense of real public health and safety.” gesturing in front of a sign that says, ”
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Sheldon Johnson posted this selfie on Facebook from his Queen’s Defenders office in December. The ex-con was released in May and police arrested him this week on murder charges in the shooting death of a man named Colin Small. (Sheldon Johnson/Facebook)
Johnson said on the podcast that he was released on May 4 after serving 25 years and five months in prison for multiple armed robbery charges.
Although he claimed to have risen to the top of the inmate hierarchy, he said he reformed himself in prison. After getting off, he boarded a plane for the first time, he said he had an epiphany.
“I had this analogy in my head as I was up in the clouds and looking down, and I said to myself, I just came out of the depths of hell and spent 25 years in prison. , now said, “I am in the sky above the clouds of heaven. ”
Sheldon Johnson also clashed with Nets CFO Peter Stern, according to his social media. (Sheldon Johnson/Facebook)
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He is currently being held without bail in a New York City jail on charges of second-degree murder.
His next court date is March 11.
A Queen’s Defenders spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the organization had no comment on Friday’s arrest of Johnson.
FOX News’ Emmett Jones contributed to this report.
