State v. Johnson

On December 6, 1971, the grand jury for the counties of Providence and Bristol returned an indictment that charged the defendant with committing the common law crime of burglary.

The state’s principal witness at a Superior Court jury trial was a woman who was employed as a high school English teacher. In the fall of 1971 the teacher and her two children lived in a first-floor two-bedroom apartment that was located in the East Side section of Providence. An asphalt driveway ran alongside the apartment house. Anyone of medium height could stand on the driveway and look into the living room and…