Dad Who Beat Up Club Director To Serve 6-Year Sentence

Robin Johnson, 50, argued that Dakota County District Judge Michael Mayer should have sentenced him to probation – not prison – for attacking the club director, cracking three of his teeth, after Johnson’s son’s sixth-grade boys basketball game on Feb. 13.

Johnson pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, court records show. He was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay $14,234 in restitution to the victim.

In an unpublished opinion, the appeals court denied Johnson’s request for probation, stating that his argument was “wholly without merit.”

The order by the three-judge panel referenced Johnson’s long, violent criminal history, which includes attempted murder.

Also, the order said that the attack caused the club director to lose some of his short-term memory and that the district court already had departed downward from guidelines when sentencing Johnson, who could have received nine years in prison.

“Even if Johnson’s argument had merit, it is clear to us that the district court considered the relevant offender-related factors,” appeals court Judge Kevin Ross wrote.

The assault took place Feb. 13 at the Burnsville High School gymnasium. According to charges, witnesses told Burnsville police a man began taunting a player during free throws to try to make him miss, and continued to yell even after the club director told him to stop.

After the game, Johnson confronted the director on the court and, after an argument, knocked a cellphone out of the victim’s hand and punched him in the jaw and kept swinging.