Brother gets 5 years for killing Fort Worth homeless man who cursed at his sister
A Haltom City man who beat to death a homeless man who cursed at the suspect’s sister after a traffic crash in 2018 has been sentenced to five years in prison for the killing.
Jeremy Johnson, 33, pleaded guilty to murder on Thursday as part of an agreement with prosecutors.
Killed in the October 2018 assault was 58-year-old Mark Hague, who was experiencing homelessness and was fixture on North Sylvania Avenue for years.
.jpg "mark hague (black).jpg")
Johnson also pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance/methamphetamine. He was arrested in April 2019 while he was out on bond in Hague’s case.
On a night in October 2018, two vehicles collided at North Sylvania Avenue and Dell Street near Enchiladas Olé’.
Mary Perez, owner of Enchiladas Olé, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2018 that Hague, who was a regular in her restaurant, and employees and customers walked out of the restaurant.
“We all went out to see what had happened,” Perez said. “My stepson and son got there in time to pull a woman out before first responders arrived.”
Hague stood near the accident scene and then stepped in front of a woman who cursed him, Perez said. Hague cursed back.
At that time, Jessica Johnson, 19 and pregnant, said she walked down to the scene, saw a woman with serious injuries from the wreck and saw Hague standing near the accident saying, “You better hope she dies.” Jessica Johnson is Jeremy Johnson’s sister.
The teen said she told Hague, who had a beer in his hand, “Why don’t you just get out of here? No one wants to hear that.”
Jessica Johnson told the Star-Telegram in 2018 that another woman who arrived at the scene had said, ”I’m her mother,” referring to the woman injured in the traffic accident, so she believed the victim had family at the scene.
According to Jessica Johnson, Hague turned to her and said, ”Why don’t you just shut the (expletive) up?” and told her to commit a sex act on him.
Jeremy Johnson, Jessica’s brother, was standing nearby and overheard the argument.
“He (Jeremy) came over and he was just protecting my dignity,” Jessica Johnson said at the time. “I heard my brother say,’You are not going to talk to my sister that way.’”
Jeremy Johnson punched Hague. As Hague was lying on the ground, Jeremy Johnson kicked him in the head and then left, Perez said.
When officers arrived, Hague was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital, where he died a few days later.
Jeremy Johnson was arrested a few days after the assault.
This article contains information from the Star-Telegram’s archives.
