No Leniency For Gay American Mathematician’s Killer, Brother Tells Court

Scott White, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter over the 1988 death of gay American mathematician Scott Johnson, will be sentenced this Thursday.  

On Tuesday, Johnson’s brother Steve pleaded with the court against showing any leniency to White. Johnson’s death had remained unsolved for over three decades until White’s arrest in May 2020. 

On December 10, 1988, Johnson’s naked body was found at the base of a cliff at Blue Fish Point, near Manly’s North Head on Sydney’s northern beaches. 

A well-known gay beat, the area was the site of other unsolved deaths of gay men. Johnson’s death was initially closed as a suicide. For years, Johnson’s family had disputed the findings. In 2012, an inquest returned an open finding. In 2017, an inquest concluded that Johnson was the victim of a hate crime. 

Arrest, Trial And Re-Trial

The police arrested White in 2020 and he was charged with Johnson’s murder. One of the witnesses in the case was Johnson’s wife Helen who alerted the police in 2019 about his possible role in Johnson’s death. 

Helen claimed White bragged to the family that he used to go “bashing poofters”. 

At a pre-trial hearing in January 2022, White surprised his lawyers when he told the court “guilty, I’m guilty, guilty, yes, guilty”. He retracted his guilty plea, but the NSW Supreme Court sentenced him to 12 years imprisonment. 

In November 2022, a NSW Court of Criminal Appeal quashed his conviction and ordered a retrial. At the second trial, White pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. 

White had claimed he himself was gay and that “being gay was his biggest secret, because his brother and his family ‘hate[d] gays’”

White in a signed statement revealed hat he met Johnson at a Manly pub before they went to North Head. He claimed Johnson took off his clothes and the two had a fight. White claimed he punched Johnson, who fell off the cliff.

‘I Have No Sympathy’

In a sentencing submission, Johnnson’s brother urged the court to sentence White to the maximum punishment for the crime. 

Steve said White’s flip-flop about his guilty plea had resulted in another “year of grief” for the family, reported ABC. 

“Today I have no sympathy…. He undid any gratitude we had for sparing us a trial. Mr White deserves no leniency,”  said Steve on behalf of the Johnson family. Steve described his brother as the “gentlest, most trusting soul imaginable”, and reflected on the long “tortured path” to justice for the family. 

“We now know who killed Mr Scott Johnson … we now know who but not why,” said Steve.