The sentence is in; the case is over

Superior Court Judge Milton F. "Toby" Fitch has given James Johnson, who entered an "Alford plea" this morning, a prayer for judgment continued for his admission of misprision of a felony in the 2004 murder of Brittany Willis. Johnson, who has been out on bail since the charges and bond against him were reduced a year ago, is free to go. By admitting the evidence could convict him of misprision of a felony, Johnson was admitting that evidence existed that he delayed reporting of a felony.

That admission will not satisfy some critics who were convinced that Johnson not only was an accessory after the fact of murder, the charge he faced had he gone to trial this week, but actually had a larger role in Willis' kidnapping, rape and murder. But Johnson's admission should disillusion some of his staunchest defenders, who asserted he was a hero for pointing police toward Kenneth Meeks, who is serving a life term after pleading guilty to the murder. The case against a third suspect, Julian Deans, remains to be adjudicated.

Judge Fitch went out of his way to pronounce the seriousness of a prayer for judgment continued when he handed down the sentence. It cannot be appealed and cannot be expunged, he said. It will hang over Johnson forever. But any defendant who ever asked for a PJC probably didn't see it as quite so serious as Fitch claimed.

Except for the loose end of Julian Deans, who was never seen as a major participant, this case is over, and Johnson's light sentence implies Deans' case will disappear quickly. It will now be up to the divided community to resolve that the court system has spoken, and it's time to for division and antagonism to end. Kenneth Meeks will spend the rest of his life in prison. James Johnson will have to live with the knowledge of what he did or didn't do. And the community will have to try to heal the wounds of a cruel, senseless murder and deep, caustic division.