Defense Says Johnson Was Under a Sedative

Michael Raymond Johnson was drugged and possibly euphoric when he told a psychiatrist details of his role in the July 1996 shooting of Sheriff’s Deputy Peter Aguirre Jr., a defense witness testified Tuesday.

Dr. Stephen Estner said doctors gave the sedative Lidocaine to Johnson while treating bullet wounds he suffered in a shootout with police after Aguirre’s slaying.

“There’s a marked change in Mr. Johnson’s attitude,” Estner testified after reviewing a tape made by Dr. Donald S. Patterson, the psychiatrist who talked to Johnson at the Ventura County Medical Center the night of July 17, 1996. “The defendant tells Patterson that he doesn’t have anything to lose by being honest and telling what happened. . . . I think he’s euphoric by the end [of the interview].”

When Johnson said that, Estner testified, Patterson failed to advise Johnson of his right to remain silent, or that it might be better not to tell him what happened--a breach of professional ethics.

Johnson--who had earlier had invoked his Miranda rights to refrain from making self-incriminating statements and to contact a lawyer--confessed to Patterson.

Estner is expected to finish testifying this morning as the last witness in a defense bid to have Johnson’s confession thrown out.

The hearing began last week and is to conclude with arguments by prosecutors and defense attorneys on whether Johnson’s statements to Patterson can be repeated to jurors at Johnson’s trial in November.