Tank pleads guilty

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Hoping to avoid jail time in gun possession case

February 9, 2007
BY STEFANO ESPOSITO AND DAN ROZEK Staff Reporters

Smiling broadly, Terry "Tank" Johnson caressed his fiancee's hand as she playfully rubbed his belly.

The Chicago Bears defensive lineman even joked with a TV sketch artist that she hadn't captured his good looks.

Johnson had the look of a man who was about to get some good news as he prepared to enter a Cook County courtroom in Skokie Thursday.

It didn't quite work out that way.

Johnson pleaded guilty to violating his probation in a 2005 gun-possession case, but he couldn't persuade Judge John J. Moran to lift a court order that's kept the lineman cooped up in his Gurnee home -- except for trips to work --since last December.

"He's accepting responsibility in the hopes that we can impress upon the judge that he [shouldn't be] locked up in the county jail," said Frank Himel, one of Johnson's attorneys.

Will be sentenced March 15
Johnson faces up to one year in jail for having guns in his home when Gurnee police raided the place Dec. 14, 2006. At the time of the raid, Johnson was on probation for illegally possessing a handgun in his SUV outside a Chicago nightclub.

Thursday, Johnson and his attorneys brought recently released Bears defensive line coach Don Johnson and one of Johnson's neighbors, among others, to testify about the lineman's good character. Moran heard the witnesses but delayed sentencing until March 15 to allow for a pre-sentence investigation.

Don Johnson called the lineman "a great individual" with a "great attitude," and said he's aggressive, "Only on Sunday, after opening kickoff."

Cliff Stein, the Bears' director of player contracts and legal affairs, testified that jail time could hurt Johnson's physical conditioning schedule and leave the lineman with a "black mark" that could damage his career.

'He's going to do some time'
A veteran Cook County prosecutor, who asked that their name not be used, predicted Johnson will be sentenced to serve a short jail term, mostly because Johnson wasted opportunities he was given after he was first charged in the 2005 gun case. The original felony weapons charge was reduced to a misdemeanor, and then Johnson was given probation.

"I've got to think he's going to do some time," said the prosecutor, who is not involved in the case.

Thursday's plea doesn't affect the charges in Lake County stemming from the raid on Johnson's home.

In Lake County, Johnson is charged with illegally possessing six firearms without a state firearm owner's identification card. He faces up to a year in jail if convicted on those charges.

sesposito@suntimes.com

drozek@suntimes.com

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