Former Fort Belvoir soldier to serve 30 years for assaulting infant, raping adult

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FAIRFAX COUNTY - A former U.S. Army soldier was sentenced to 15 years in prison after a series of assaults that left a newborn child permanently and severely injured. The former Fort Belvoir soldier, Austin Blair Johnson, was also sentenced for a separate sexual assault. The new sentence will be served on top of a previous 15-year sentence he is already serving.

What we know:

On two separate occasions in 2012, Austin Blair Johnson, who was then an active duty soldier at Fort Belvoir, violently shook and dropped his infant daughter, who was just weeks old, according to court documents. Johnson lied about accidentally dropping the child and that he had "successfully broken her fall with his foot," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a release.

Austin Blair Johnson (Photo: Alexandria Sheriff's Office)

The backstory:

The first assault, on June 24, 2012, left the infant with a fractured skull. 

"While holding MV1 [Minor Victim 1] in front of him with one hand under each of her arms, Johnson rapidly and forcefully shook MV1 multiple times before letting go of her, causing her to flip and land on her head," court documents revealed. 

After the second assault, when the child was just 26 days old, she began having seizures. Doctors discovered a second skull fracture and extensive brain damage.

The child was placed in the custody of Child Protective Services and, shortly after her third birthday, had to undergo a hemispherectomy to remove the entire left side of her brain to control seizures. The child is now legally blind, non-verbal and the entire right side of her body is paralyzed. Cognitively, she functions at the level of a mature infant, according to court documents. Johnson was ordered to pay over $1.1 million in restitution.

In addition to the assaults on his daughter, Johnson was also sentenced for sexually assaulting the child's mother in 2013, after she had rebuffed his requests to be intimate.