Arizona woman accused of trying to kill her husband with poisoned coffee sentenced to probation

By Andy Rose, CNN

(CNN) — An Arizona woman accused of attempting to kill her husband by poisoning his coffee has been sentenced to three years probation.

Melody Felicano Johnson was initially charged with attempted first-degree murder and pleaded guilty to two counts of the lesser felony charge of adding poison or a harmful substance to food or drink in April.

Johnson could have faced a maximum of 2 years in prison for each count.

Her attorney requested the sentence be time served, saying Johnson had already been in custody for nearly a year due to her inability to post a $250,000 bond. Her sentence also included mental health treatment.

Judge Javier Chon-Lopez noted even the victim, her estranged husband Roby Johnson, had told the court he did not want Johnson to end up in prison.

The defendant’s husband told investigators he “believes she was trying to kill him to collect death benefits,” according to a criminal report obtained last year by CNN affiliate KVOA. Roby Johnson said he first noticed a foul taste to his coffee in March 2023 while he was an airman stationed in Germany, the document says.

The Johnsons were still living together with their child but were in the process of getting divorced. Roby and Melody Johnson’s divorce is still pending, her attorney said.

Roby Johnson told detectives he used pool testing strips to determine his coffee pot “showed high levels of chlorine,” and set up hidden cameras that reportedly caught Melody Johnson pouring bleach into a container and pouring the contents of that container into the coffee maker, investigators said.

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