Dubuque man gets 50 years for Platteville cab driver murder

LANCASTER, Wis. (AP) - A Dubuque man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison and 18 years of supervised release for robbing, kidnapping and killing a Platteville taxi driver.

The Telegraph Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1ESjppG ) 26-year-old Tommy L. Johnson Jr. was sentenced Thursday in Lancaster, Wisconsin, on charges of kidnapping, armed robbery and first-degree reckless homicide. Johnson pleaded no contest in November in connection to the June robbery and murder of 79-year-old Merle Forbes.

Police say Johnson stabbed Forbes, put the man in the trunk of his own cab while he was still alive and drove off.

Johnson's attorney says his actions were a result of undertreated mental illness, and that he meant to kill himself, not anyone else.

But prosecutors say Johnson's 30 prior convictions demonstrate a pattern of dangerous behavior.