[12/20/01] Juanita “Nita” Johnston is no longer in a life-threatening position, although there is fear she may not walk again, a family spokesman said Wednesday.

“She is expected to live, although she will not fully recover,” said Paul Kelly Loyacono, a Vicksburg attorney and spokesman for the family.

The news is the first detailed update since shortly after the former court reporter was found Dec. 6 injured on Hinds County land owned by Warren County and Youth Court Judge Gerald Hosemann, in whose courtroom she worked for several years.

Hospital spokesmen have limited their comments to describing Johnston as “stable” and in ParkView Regional Medical Center’s critical care unit.

Loyacono said there is concern that severe nerve damage to her lower back may keep Johnston, 47, from walking again.

Witnesses and law enforcement sources have said the mother of two teen-agers, last seen by her family on Dec. 4, was found near a Hosemann-owned mobile home about 5 a.m. two days later. At the time, family members said she had multiple bruises and was suffering from exposure.

It appears she was beaten in the lower abdomen and back, Loyacono said.

“Judging by her injuries, the doctors agree that she could not have injured herself,” he said. “And they all agree that where she was found was not where she was injured.”

Johnston was reported found by Hosemann and Billy Leist, a local plumber and rancher, about 10 feet behind the mobile home after family members initiated a search.

Loyacono said she was propped up against a tree and that her clothes and body were completely clean.

“Given her injuries, she could not have gotten there on her own,” he said. “And it is unlikely that she would have been able to even crawl,” he said, at least without soiling her clothes.

“It would have been physically impossible for her to have moved herself. It all seems to show that she wasn’t hurt there,” he said.

The injuries to Johnston, whose ex-husband accused her of adultery with Hosemann in divorce papers in 1996, came weeks after Hosemann and his current wife filed papers in Hinds County to end their three-month marriage.

Claiming irreconcilable differences, the joint petition for divorce says Julia Skinner Hosemann may live at the mobile home near Utica where Johnston was found. In order for the Hinds County court to have jurisdiction in the divorce, at least one spouse must claim to be a Hinds County resident.

No arrests have been made in the case, and investigators say they have been continuing to gather information and are awaiting clearance to interview Johnston. The family is satisfied with their progress, Loyacono said.

Investigators also have said Hosemann cooperated with crime scene investigators the day Johnston was found.

Hosemann, 49, has made no public comment since the afternoon of Dec. 6 when he said he was concerned and did not know how Johnston was injured.

Hosemann, who has been Warren County Court judge and Warren County Youth Court judge for 15 years, was reported at the hospital Dec. 12 asking about Johnston’s condition. Reports said he was not allowed to see Johnston.

The family has said Johnston does not want to see Hosemann, her former employer.