Father calls out Davidson County judge after mishandling leads to daughter’s death

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The father of 22-year-old Lauren Johansen, a Mississippi woman killed back in June, spoke out in a court during a hearing on Thursday.

Bond companies also appeared before judges during the hearing over the handling of Bricen Rivers, the man accused of murdering Johansen in June. Rivers was in a Nashville jail for months and charged with aggravated kidnapping after he and Johansen got into a brutal fight on a trip to the Music City.

“To look at all these different failures and, every day, I’m learning of a new failure.” Lauren’s father, Lance Johansen, lamented.

Lance said these missteps led to the death of his 22-year-old daughter, Lauren.

“If one thing went our way she’d still be here today,” Lance explained. “The judges just need to know that until they can get this stuff straight, they don’t need to let these people out of jail, because they’re killing people.”

He blames Judge Cheryl Blackburn for his daughter’s death.

Lance said Blackburn let his daughter’s alleged abuser, Bricen Rivers, out of jail by lowering his bond, a decision that sparked a chain of miscommunication and led to bond companies putting wrong restrictions on Rivers’ ankle monitor. He allegedly left the state, found Lauren, and killed her days later.

“She was treated inhumanely and I think we found out today that, yes, the bonds are not high enough and then you make a bond and the bond’s not being ordered and then when you order the bond, the person can’t remember to give them the bond order,” Lance said.

During Thursday’s hearing, Lance Johansen learned the company signed off on Rivers’ bond conditions but was never shown the court order that said he was supposed to stay in Davidson County and get an ankle monitor with a specific bond company.

“I just wanted to let them know to think twice before they let these people out,” Lance said. “It’s very disappointing that the system is this way, and sometimes systems need to all have meetings to talk about these things.”

The bonding companies involved detailed their shortcomings and explained how they went off of Rivers’ word instead of verifying court documents.

“If your court can let somebody out who is a vicious killer at any time of the day they want to. I really think that a lot of things could have been done differently and my daughter would be alive right now,” Lance told the court. “I’m just asking that ya’ll consider finding a way to keep these people off the street.”

He said he just hopes this doesn’t happen to anyone else.