Police search a headland in Sydney, Tuesday, May 12, 2020, following an arrest in relation to the death of a man in 1998.
Johnson must have been terrified, aware that he would strike the rocks below and conscious of his fate. “In those seconds when he must have realized what was happening to him, Dr. Johnson, causing him to stumble backwards and leave the cliff edge,” Justice Helen Wilson wrote in Tuesday's court decision. It wasn’t until 2017, amid a new inquest following renewed scrutiny of the case, that the original findings surrounding Johnson’s death were officially disputed. Johnson's death was subsequently ruled a suicide.įor years, his family fought for his case to be re-opened by local police and, at one point, they’d offered nearly $650,000 in Australian currency for information that might shed light on the American man’s murder. His body was found at the foot of a seaside cliff in a Sydney suburb - a place locally known as a meeting point for gay men - on Dec. Scott Johnson, then a 27-year-old doctoral student, was studying at Australian National University, where he had moved to be with his partner. White must now serve at least eight years and three months in prison before he’s eligible for parole, per case records. White, who had once pleaded not guilty in the decades-old killing and faced a life sentence, reversed his plea during a surprise court admission in January. Scott White, 51, was sentenced to 12 years and seven months behind bars by a New South Wales Supreme Court judge on Tuesday, according to court records obtained by. All rights reserved.An Australian man has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison for the 1988 killing of a gay American mathmetician, whose death was wrongly ruled a suicide for years. reserves the right to make additions, deletions, or modification to the contents on the Website at any time without prior notice.Ĭopyright © 2013-2022. In no event shall be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages or any damages whatsoever, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tort, arising out of or in connection with the use of the Website or the contents of the Website. Accordingly, to the extent permitted by applicable law, we exclude all express or implied warranties, terms and conditions including, but not limited to, implied warranties of content, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Terms of service: You agree that you are making use of our services at your own risk, and that they are being provided to you on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis. We do our best to delete links to inappropriate content expeditiously, when it is reported.