Jury selection got underway Monday in Madison County for Gary D. Johnson, the first of three men charged in an alleged murder-for-hire scheme that prosecutors say ended with 32-year-old Portia Rowland shot to death outside her Collinsville home. Court filings state Rowland was gunned down on Jan. 21, 2025, as she headed out for work. Johnson is accused of being the shooter, and two other men, including one charged with arranging the killing, remain jailed awaiting their own trials. Monday’s hearing unfolded at the Madison County Criminal Justice Center in Edwardsville.
Jury selection and court schedule
Jury selection was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Monday with Associate Judge Neil Schroeder on the bench, according to The Telegraph. Prosecutors have filed a witness list that stretches into the hundreds, setting the stage for a lengthy and detail-heavy trial. The court has also signed off on still and video photography in the courtroom, subject to restrictions. Assistant state’s attorneys Lauren Maricle and Luke Yeager are leading the prosecution, while Johnson is represented by the Madison County public defender’s office.
Prosecutors' account of the plot
Charging documents allege that Sammy J. Shafer Jr. paid two men a total of $10,000 to kill Rowland, with $6,500 allegedly going to the shooter and $3,500 to the driver, prosecutors say, as reported by RiverBender. Investigators contend Johnson drove up near Rowland’s house, walked toward her and opened fire as she was warming up her car on the morning of Jan. 21, 2025. Prosecutors say video evidence and cellphone records link the defendants to the scene.
Evidence and pretrial fights
Defense attorneys filed motions to suppress some of Johnson’s statements and to block autopsy photos from being shown to jurors, but the judge denied those efforts, according to The Telegraph. A separate motion to sever a weapons charge from the main case was granted. Prosecutors told the court they intend to present surveillance footage and text messages pulled from a co-defendant’s phone. Court records also show Johnson at times tried to represent himself before ultimately agreeing to be represented by the public defender.
Investigation and background
According to the Major Case Squad’s written report, Collinsville officers were dispatched to the 1300 block of Olive Street at about 6:06 a.m. on Jan. 21, 2025, where they found Rowland shot in her driveway. The report lists charges against Shafer, Johnson and Marty D. Shaw, as detailed by the Major Case Squad. Separately, local reporting notes that Johnson previously served time for a 1997 murder conviction and was released in 2017, a history prosecutors say could come into play at sentencing if he is convicted in this case, according to KMOX. Both the Major Case Squad report and the court filings are expected to be key pieces of the state’s presentation.
What comes next
With jurors being seated, prosecutors will begin calling witnesses as the schedule allows, while the other two defendants, Shaw and Shafer, remain in custody awaiting separate trials, per coverage by KSDK. Shafer’s own trial had been set for earlier in the spring but was postponed, and future court calendars and filings will determine when new juries are called for the remaining defendants.
