'Extraordinarily Brutal' Crime Draws 28-Year Term

"Every time something happened, Toni called the police. She did what she was supposed to do," said her mother, Stephany Hill.

Police and advocates said that although incidents involving murder or maiming are the exception, the Brown case sheds light on the prevalence of same-sex domestic violence.

"Just like in heterosexual domestic cases, most of the abuse that occurs is punching, kicks, slaps, pushing or even threats, said Lt. Brett Parson, who heads the D.C. police special liaison unit, which includes a squad that deals with crimes against gay men and lesbians. "And people don't think that is abuse, but it is."

D.C. police said they believe many same-sex domestic violence cases are not reported as such. Victims, fearing backlash from friends, family members, employers or even police, report being assaulted but avoid disclosing the nature of the relationship, Parson said.

The police department created the Victims Services Branch two years ago to assist victims of domestic abuse. In its first year, the unit had 40 domestic violence cases involving gay men and lesbians, officials said. Last year, that number more than doubled.

"If anything good can come out of this tragedy, it is that it woke people up that extreme violence between women is possible," said Morgan Lynn, a staff attorney with Women Empowered Against Violence, or WEAVE, a District-based advocacy group. "There are a lot of myths in the lesbian community that women don't hurt each other."

Brown's case is proof that they do.

On Aug. 12, Johnson approached Brown at a bus stop in Adams Morgan, court papers say. Brown, the night manager of a Safeway store on Columbia Road, was getting ready to go to work. She said that Johnson started an argument, accusing her of seeing someone else, and that, as she turned to walk away, she felt a hard smack against her neck. Brown said she then saw Johnson with a towel. Brown said she later learned that the towel had been wrapped around a hard ball.

Later, Brown said, Johnson tried to reach her about 20 times while she was at work. At the time, Brown said, she was seeing another woman, although she did not tell Johnson.

On Aug. 13, Brown sought a protective order against Johnson, which a judge granted. Prosecutors also charged Johnson with misdemeanor assault.

Johnson appeared for a hearing on the assault charge Sept. 8 and was ordered to return to D.C. Superior Court two days later. But she didn't show up, records show, and a warrant for her arrest was issued.

Prosecutors said that Johnson surprised Brown at 12:15 a.m. Sept. 25 near the Safeway store in the 1700 block of Columbia Road NW. As Brown bent over to pull a newspaper out of a vending machine, Johnson walked up, raised her right arm and fired a gun at Brown's neck from a foot away, prosecutors said.