Convicted of Geronimo Bank Robbery, Johnson seeks new trial

One of the men convicted for a role in one of the most violent and high profile Comanche County crimes of the 1980s is seeking a new trial based upon what he called “newly discovered evidence.”

Robert Grady Johnson, 65, and Jay Wesley Neill were convicted for the Dec. 14, 1984, robbery and massacre of employees at the First Bank of Chattanooga in Geronimo.

With the motion written and submitted by Johnson, he’s seeking a new trial alleging new evidence arose during the filming of a documentary, “Geronimo.” He said FBI Agent Granville Long “made a stunning confession” by saying Johnson was 16 miles away from the crime scene when it happened. He claims the information was withheld from the defense.

Johnson claims that then-Comanche County District Attorney Dick Tannery and Assistant District Attorney Robert Schulte seated Long at the prosecution table during the trial in an effort to hide exculpatory evidence by not allowing him to testify during the trial. He cited that in 1984, the felony murder statute states “that to be held accountable, one must be acting in the underlying felony” and stated that “in no stretch of anyone’s imagination could someone be 16 miles way and committing a bank robbery.”

The claims mirror those Johnson offered in a letter written to The Constitution shortly before the Sept. 9, 2024, filing of the motion. It was entered into the Comanche County District Court record on Friday.

On the day of the crime, Neill entered the bank and forced three tellers, one a pregnant woman, at gunpoint to go to the back room and lie face down on the floor where Neill then stabbed them to death.

Three customers came into the bank and Neill shot one man in the head, killing him, while also shooting a young husband and wife. They would survive, as would their 14-month-old daughter who Neill attempted to shoot before realizing he’d run out of bullets.

Johnson was found guilty in July 1985, along with Neill, of three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of shooting with intent to kill and attempted shooting with intent to kill. Neill received the death penalty. Johnson first was sentenced to death, but it was later commuted to four life sentences without parole. He is held at Mack Alford Correctional Center in Stringtown, according to Department of Corrections records.

Neill and Johnson met in February 1984 and became romantically involved, sharing a Lawton apartment and a joint bank account at First Bank of Chattanooga in Geronimo at the time of the crime. Johnson bought the ammunition used by Neill but claimed he didn’t know his intent to commit the crime.

Following the bank robbery, the two were arrested Dec. 17, 1984, in San Francisco, Calif., after marked bills stolen from the bank were used to pay for hotel rooms.

Neill was sentenced to death twice, once in 1985 and again in 1992. Following an appeal that was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2002, he was executed by lethal injection on Dec. 12, 2002.

In his recent filing, Johnson claims he was targeted by the prosecution for being gay and was victim of the prosecutors’ political ambitions.

In August 2019, Johnson was denied a bid to modify his sentence.

In May of 2024, a crew from Texas Crew Productions — an Asylum Entertainment Group Company conducted an interview with The Lawton Constitution for a development project regarding the Geronimo bank robbery and massacre from December 1984. It is unclear if the documentary cited by Johnson’s filing is the same one.

Mary Mapes, who conducted the interview, said the untitled development project is designed to be a multi-part documentary which looks at the crime and the long aftermath from a number of different angles.