Roland Johnson

Roland Johnson testified for the defense in Steven Avery's 2007 trial about the trailer, garage, and Marlin .22 rifle he owned. On Day 19, he described firing the rifle around the lot and near the garage without collecting the ejected casings. He placed his last use of the rifle before Jodi moved into the trailer. His account offered a possible earlier source for casings on the property, but did not identify the origin of any particular recovered item.

On cross-examination, Johnson maintained that he had fired outside, not inside, the garage. He allowed that casings could have entered through an open door, but could not estimate how far they would travel. He identified his firearms while saying he could not recall seeing them in the bedroom during Avery's occupancy. Johnson also placed his own last use of the burn barrel around 2004, said he did not know whether others used it later, and denied burning a camera or cell phone in it. He recalled seeing Allen operate an aluminum smelter but could not date that observation or infer a date from its photographed condition.

Questioning also turned to a cut Johnson remembered seeing on Avery's hand. He could not firmly date the visit or identify the person shown in a cut-finger photograph. On redirect, he said cuts were common at the junkyard and maintained that he had seen a cut, while acknowledging that the photographed cut might not be the one he remembered.