Murder suspect receives 25-year sentence
KNOXVILLE — Despite a plea for leniency from his attorney, Douglas V. Whisnant was sentenced to 25 years in prison last week by a federal judge.
Whisnant, a Ditney Trail man who is accused of murdering his ex-wife, Jean Johnson, could have been sentenced to as few as 15 years or as many as 25 years on each of the two counts he faced.
A federal jury convicted Whisnant last October of being in illegal possession of firearms as a convicted felon. Those charges stemmed from a March 2007 search of his home by local, state and federal agents after he emerged as the leading suspect in the disappearance of Johnson, who was last heard from in February 2007.
In a pair of filings earlier this month, Whisnant’s attorney, R. Alexander Brown, requested leniency for his client.
“[Whisnant] is a 61-year-old man who suffers from hypertension, type II diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and constant pain from osteoarthritis of the thoracic spine,” Brown wrote. He added that Whisnant, who receives Social Security disability benefits, provides for his first ex-wife and three children from his first marriage, that he had not drank alcohol since the 1960s or used illegal substances, and that he had maintained gainful employment for a number of years. He requested that Whisnant be sentenced to the mandated minimum of 15 years.
Brown also argued that Whisnant did not contest the allegations made against him by the government during the trial, except to challenge the search of his property as being unconstitutional.
In a response to Brown’s motion, however, U.S. attorney J. Edgar Schmutzer argued that Whisnant had at no time admitted guilt or expressed remorse for his conduct, and added that Whisnant’s medical problems “can and should be handled by the Bureau of Prisons.”
U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan sentenced Whisnant to 25 years on one of the two counts on which he was convicted, and to 10 years on the second. However, the sentences will be served concurrently for an effective 25-year sentence.
With the federal government’s case against completed, the road has been cleared for the state to pursue its case against Whisnant. In March 2008, a Scott County grand jury indicted Whisnant on first degree murder charges related to Johnson’s disappearance.
Deputy District Attorney General John Galloway said Monday that an arraignment on those charges is scheduled for March 30 in Scott County Criminal Court.
“We are in the process of getting Mr. Whisnant back here for those charges,” Galloway said.
Whisnant has been in custody since his arrest on March 8, 2007, on an outstanding trespass warrant. The following day, agents from multiple jurisdictions descended on his Ditney Trail home, searching for evidence related to Johnson’s disappearance.
Whisnant was not charged in connection with the alleged murder of Johnson at the time, but state weapons allegations were lodged against him after several firearms were allegedly discovered in a hidden compartment inside an interior wall of his residence. Two weeks later, those charges were dropped after a federal grand jury indicted Whisnant.