Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — This afternoon, Thomas Lee Johnson is expected to plead not guilty to first-degree murder for the death of a Steamboat Springs woman last May, Johnson's lawyer said Thursday.

Norm Townsend also said his client will enter not guilty pleas to criminal trespass and criminal mischief in 14th Judicial District Judge Joel S. Thompson's courtroom.

The arraignment is set for 1:30 p.m.

After the plea to the charges is entered, Townsend expects for Thompson to set a date for a trial.

Johnson is accused of allegedly killing Lori Bases and vandalizing the woman's sport utility vehicle last spring.

Bases, 31, was found dead in her Steamboat Boulevard apartment by her roommate the morning of May 12.

According to an autopsy, Bases bled to death. She was stabbed numerous times and had wounds throughout her body, including her neck.

Currently, Johnson is being held in the Routt County Jail without bond. He has been in custody since his arrest last summer.

The motive police have given for the murder is Johnson allegedly thought Bases was interfering with his relationship with Kimberly Goodwin, who was Bases' friend.

Johnson married Goodwin about two weeks after Bases' death.

The two were married during a trip to Las Vegas but divorced this past December.

Johnson was arrested in Steamboat Springs in June after he allegedly confessed to his ex-wife, Michelle Linnebur, that he committed the murder.

A Steamboat Springs police officer allegedly overheard the confession when the officer listened in on a telephone conversation between Linnebur and Johnson.

At the time, the officer was at Linnebur's home to interview the woman about her ex-husband.

Johnson was arrested when he traveled to Steamboat Springs by bus.

The vandalism and criminal mischief charges Johnson faces stem from the alleged vandalism of Bases' SUV weeks before she was killed.

About $6,400 in damage was caused to the SUV.

The vehicle's tires and dashboard had been slashed.

If Johnson is convicted of the murder charge, he faces life imprisonment.

Assistant District Attorney Kerry St. James, who is the lead prosecutor in the case, has notified Townsend he will not be seeking the death penalty.

If Johnson is convicted of criminal mischief, he could serve one to 16 years in prison.