Steve Johnson, right, with his sisters, Terry, left, and Rebecca and his wife Rosemarie, second right, arrive at the Supreme Court in Sydney, Monday, May 2, 2022, for a sentencing hearing in the murder of Scott Johnson, Steve, Terry and Rebecca's brother. Scott White appeared in the New South Wales state Supreme Court for a sentencing hearing after he pleaded guilty in January to the murder of the Los Angeles-born Canberra resident Scott Johnson, whose death at the base of a North Head cliff was initially dismissed by police as suicide. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Steve Johnson
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian man was sentenced to 12 years and seven months in prison for the 1988 murder of an American who fell off a Sydney cliff that was known as a gay meeting place.
The death of mathematician Scott Johnson was initially called a suicide, but his family pressed for further investigation. A coroner in 2017 found a number of assaults, some fatal, where the victims had been targeted because they were thought to be gay.
Scott White pleaded guilty in January and could have been sentenced to up to life in prison. The judge said she did not find beyond reasonable doubt that the murder was a gay hate crime, which would have led to a longer sentence.
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