A former Pottstown man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the 2016 murder of an Amity Township man during the attempted theft of a dirt bike.
Darrell Johnson, 40, was sentenced Wednesday by Berks County Judge Eleni Dimitriou Geishauser to life in prison plus 15 to 20 years for killing Michael Shields on Aug. 6. 2016.
A jury found Johnson guilty of second-degree murder, robbery and aggravated assault following a weeklong trial in November.
According to investigators:
Shields was shot to death about 9 p.m. in front of a garage at 640 East Ben Franklin Highway, which is Route 422. Shields used the garage to repair cars for friends.
Shields and his roommate were living in part of the garage they had renovated into living quarters. The roommate’s dirt bike was chained to the mailbox at the end of the driveway with a for-sale sign to attract prospective buyers.
Just before the shooting, the roommate unchained the bike to return it to a shed on the property. As he did that, he was approached by a gunman who apparently had been lurking in the darkness.
The roommate wouldn’t let go of the bike and was pistol-whipped. Johnson then fatally shot Shields and fled.
Johnson was charged in February 2023. Investigators at that time said they didn’t need to rush the filing of charges because Johnson was in the midst of serving a 25- to 50-year sentence in State Correctional Institution-Mahanoy in Frackville, Schuylkill County, on robbery charges in West Pottsgrove Township.