Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Drug-Linked Murder in Butler County

CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced a man who fatally shot someone in Butler County, Missouri to protect a heroin conspiracy to 20 years in prison.

James Odell Johnson pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and one count of conspiracy to possess and discharge a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. He admitted shooting a man in Poplar Bluff at the behest of Shanesha “Nikki” Burns in connection with a heroin distribution conspiracy. The victim’s body was discovered on May 20, 2018.

The heroin conspiracy involving Johnson and Burns began at least as early as 2018, according to their guilty pleas. James Michael Cohen and others would transport heroin from St. Louis, Missouri to Butler County twice a month. Cohen and others would then sell the heroin. Members of the conspiracy used Burns’ home just outside Poplar Bluff to sell and store heroin. Burns also sold heroin. Johnson obtained heroin for his own use and for resale from Cohen and others in half-ounce to ounce quantities. Cohen also supplied firearms to Johnson at various times during the conspiracy. 

Two days before Johnson’s victim’s body was discovered, the Missouri State Highway Patrol learned that heroin was being processed and packaged at Burns’ home. The Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force and the Butler County Sheriff’s Office went to the house and Burns agreed to let them perform a search. They found marijuana, heroin and cocaine base. Burns believed that someone who had just left the home had tipped off police and told Johnson that she wanted him killed. Johnson lured the victim to the home with drugs supplied by Burns and Cohen, and then invited the victim to a rural area to go shooting. When the victims’ gun jammed, Johnson shot him with his own 9mm handgun. Johnson was later arrested with murder weapon.

Cohen was found in the possession of drugs and guns multiple times. On Jan. 28, 2019, police stopped him and digital scales, a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, methamphetamine, heroin and $2,494 in cash. On Oct. 8, 2020, he was caught with another handgun, as well as about 444 grams of meth. On Feb. 23, 2021, Cohen was arrested at a St. Louis hotel with about 468 grams of fentanyl and 778 grams of meth. He had a pistol in his car. 

Burns, now 37, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin and conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and Judge Schelp sentenced her in March to 20 years in prison. Cohen, 37, of St. Louis County, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison in February.

The sentence for Johnson runs consecutive to a 10-year term that he received for a 2018 case in which he shot a Poplar Bluff police detective / Drug Enforcement Administration task force officer in the arm. Johnson received a total of 30 years in prison in that 2018 case.

The Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force, the Poplar Bluff Police Department, the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the case. 

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.