Brewton man pleads guilty to murder

Prior to opening statements, Johnson pleads guilty to killing Salter, now faces 20 to life

A Brewton man now faces 20 years to life in prison instead of a possible death sentence after he entered a blind guilty plea to murder Wednesday morning just before opening statements were going to be made to the jury.

James Larry Johnson, 32, was scheduled to stand trial on capital murder charges for the May 25, 2014 killing of Christopher Adam Salter. Johnson was originally charged with murder but an Escambia County grand jury upgraded the charges to capital murder, attempted murder and burglary.

If convicted of capital murder, Alabama law has two sentencing options: death or life in pris...