An Arizona woman who was charged with attempted murder after poisoning her husband’s coffee has been sentenced to three years of probation.
Melody Felicano Johnson, 39, pleaded guilty to two counts of adding a poison or noxious substance to food or drink last month, CNN reports. Johnson’s attorney previously said she admitted to putting traces of bleach in her husband Roby Johnson’s coffee pot on two occasions in 2023, according to local newspaper KOLD.
Pima County Superior Court Judge Javier Chon-Lopez sentenced her to three years of probation with mental health treatment, citing her now-estranged husband’s statement that he did not want her to go to prison, CNN reports.
She had already been in jail for nearly a year after failing to post $250,000 bail, the paper reported. Prosecutors asked for a high bail because they felt she was a flight risk, as she had recently bought a house in the Philippines.
Melody Feliciano Johnson.
Pima County Sheriff’s Office
Arizona woman accused of trying to kill husband with poisoned coffee
Melody, of Tucson, was originally charged with attempted first-degree murder and pleaded not guilty in August 2023, but her charge was reduced after she agreed to a plea deal.
Melody was first accused of poisoning Roby’s coffee in March 2023 after he noticed a “bad taste”. At the time, they were living in Germany with the child, as Roby is a member of the US Air Force.
After weeks of suspecting something was being put in his coffee, Roby bought pool test strips and set up video cameras in an attempt to catch Melody poisoning him, according to court documents reported by CNN affiliate KVOA in August 2023 .
According to CNN, Roby’s security cameras — set up in the couple’s laundry room, above their coffee maker, and a third set up to show Melody walking between the two areas — allegedly captured footage of her pouring bleach into a container and then spilling the liquid from that container into the coffee machine.
An Arizona woman accepted a plea deal after poisoning her husband’s coffee and trying to kill him
According to NBC, Roby found the coffee “showed high levels of chlorine” on test strips in the pool. However, he pretended to continue drinking coffee and waited to report the poisoning until his family arrived home at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, he told investigators.
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Investigators who later searched the couple’s home found a container of liquid in it that smelled like bleach under Johnson’s bathroom sink, NBC reported. Investigators also said the liquid in the coffee maker smelled like bleach.
Although Melody and her husband were living together at the time of the incident, they were in the process of divorcing, CNN reported. Investigators said Roby “believes [Melody] he was trying to kill him to collect the death penalty.”
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Source: HIS Education