The state that brought Americans the murder of a Ukrainian war refugee is offering a new lesson in how to coddle criminals.
A North Carolina judge appointed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper decided last week that a man who pulled a knife on state troopers guarding a Donald Trump motorcade last year will not be spending a day in prison for the crime.
A jury gave him two felony convictions. Judge Jacqueline Grant gave him 15 days in jail — if he even serves that.
Leif Brynolf Johnson may only serve 15 days in jail for attacking Trump supporters, spitting on a child, and pulling a knife on police who attempted to stop him
Johnson was convicted by a Buncombe Co. jury
Johnson was found to have aggravating sentencing factors
Johnson still… https://t.co/lszJI3sWfh pic.twitter.com/WB5AHDCEH1
— Old North Patriots (@oldnorthpats) October 7, 2025
According to WLOS-TV in Asheville, the case in case involved a man identified as Leif Johnson, 55, a resident of Buncombe County in western North Carolina, who was present in October 2024 when then-candidate Trump was touring the Tarheel state in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
On hand were Mississippi Highway Patrol troopers, who were deployed from their home state to assist with recovery efforts from the monster storm.
According to WHNS-TV in Greenville, officers conducting security for Trump’s motorcade witnessed Johnson becoming belligerent with bystanders, including an elderly veteran in a wheelchair and a 12-year-old boy.
When the Mississippi troopers attempted to remove Johnson from the scene, WHNS reported, he pulled out a 4-inch stainless steel knife from his waistband.
At this point, most sane Americans might conclude that Johnson wasn’t playing with a full deck.
Causing a disturbance at a public gathering is one thing. Getting into a confrontation with an elderly vet in a wheelchair and spitting in the face of a 12-year-old (as WLOS reported) is another.
But pulling a 4-inch knife on multiple state troopers and expecting anything good to come out of it is not the action of a man in complete control of his senses.
Nevertheless, they’re all criminal acts, and Johnson was duly charged with two counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer, one count of disorderly conduct, and one count of simple assault, WLOS reported.
On Thursday, after a four-day trial, he was convicted on all counts, the station reported — and looking at consecutive prison sentences of 30 months to 48 months on each of the felonies, or five to eight years in prison.
Instead, Grant suspended the prison sentences and imposed three years of supervised probation. And, oh yeah, she gave Johnson a 15-day stay in jail, to be served “at the discretion of his probation officer.”
Coverage of the case is hard to find, and there’s little in the way of Grant justifying a sentence that makes a slap on the wrist look harsh on the wrist.
But it’s hard not to think that politics might have played a role. Trump’s election-season trip to North Carolina not only highlighted his own enthusiastic energy, it might also have helped his victory in the swing state.
Trump’s Democratic opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, didn’t exactly cover herself with glory with her lame response to the disaster — that is, when she even deigned to respond.
(And Trump didn’t forget North Carolina’s troubles after the election.)
But even if a Democrat-appointed judge didn’t go easy on a criminal defendant because the event he disturbed was focused on Donald Trump — the Democrat bête noir — the outcome of the Johnson case should be alarming to any American who cares about the safety of the country.
North Carolina is now a state known internationally as the location where a Ukrainian war refugee was stabbed in the neck, allegedly by a lunatic killer named Decarlos Brown Jr.
In the Johnson case, if a man is willing to pull a knife on state troopers during a public confrontation, it’s difficult to think of circumstances where he might not be considered to be safe for civilians.
The place for violent criminals is behind bars — where they can’t hurt innocent men, women, and children — whether they’re elderly vets in wheelchairs, pre-teens, or Mississippi state troopers.
Democratic judges might not like it, Democratic lawmakers might not like it, and the progressive leftists who dominate the Democratic Party of 2025 might despise it, but just like courts were made for justice, prison cells were made for criminals.
A judge who doesn’t put a criminal where he belongs doesn’t belong on the bench.
Not in North Carolina. Not in any state in the country.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
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