Scott Johnson

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Australian Man Gets 9 Years for Killing Gay American in 1988

'I think our family’s got some peace and I would even say closure,' Scott Johnson's brother says

(Newser) - An Australian man who admitted killing a gay American by punching him off a cliff top in Sydney in 1988 was sentenced on Thursday to nine years in prison, ending the victim's family’s 35-year battle for justice. Scott Phillip White, 52, had pleaded guilty in the New South...

'I Pushed a Bloke. He Went Over the Edge'

Australian court hears confession in 1988 murder of American Scott Johnson

(Newser) - A man told police he killed American mathematician Scott Johnson in 1988 by pushing the 27-year-old off a Sydney cliff in what prosecutors describe as a gay hate crime, a court heard on Monday. Scott White, 51, appeared in the New South Wales state Supreme Court for a sentencing hearing...

He Plunged From Cliff in 1988. 34 Years Later, an Admission

Australia's Scott White confesses in court to killing American Scott Johnson

(Newser) - Update: An Australian man has admitted to murdering an American mathematician who fell to his death from a cliff in Sydney in 1988, reports the AP . Scott White admitted in court that he killed Scott Johnson, whose death was initially ruled a suicide. The 27-year-old Johnson was gay, and prosecutors...

30 Years After He Fell to His Death, a Ruling
They Said His 1988 Death Was
Suicide. Now, It's Definitely Not
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

They Said His 1988 Death Was Suicide. Now, It's Definitely Not

Australian coroner finds Scott Johnson's death was a hate crime

(Newser) - It's believed that Australia has only twice opened a third coroner's inquest into someone's death: with the infamous case of Azaria Chamberlain , the baby taken by a dingo, and with the 1988 death of a 27-year-old American mathematician. On Thursday, a coroner gave the ruling his brother...

In Dark Slice of History, Teens Forced Gay Men Off Cliffs

Australian police now probing deaths from as long ago as 1976

(Newser) - For nearly two decades, Scott Johnson's death had been labeled a suicide. The 27-year-old's naked body was found Dec. 10, 1988, on a cliff overlooking Sydney's northern beaches, with his clothes folded above. His brother didn't buy it, and in 2005 he developed an alternate theory:...

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