Parole has been granted to a man convicted of second degree murder in the 1980 death of a Lakeshore High School student. The Berrien County Prosecutor’s Office tells us 60-year-old Michael Johnson pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. He admitted to assaulting classmate Sue Ellen Machemer when she gave him a ride on April 3, 1980. Johnson, who was 17 at the time, said there was a struggle, they wound up out of the car, and she fell down a hill and into some water. She drowned. Johnson had appealed his sentence multiple times, arguing the fact he was denied a parole hearing effectively made his sentence life without parole. The prosecutor’s office opposed those appeals, saying the decision should be up to the Michigan Parole Board. Following a Supreme Court ruling on life sentences for juveniles, Johnson got his hearing and was paroled on May 16. The prosecutor’s office says it has no comment on the Parole Board’s decision. Machemer’s family had supported Johnson’s release, saying they forgive him.
