FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Framed & Profiled: The Legal Lynching of a Black Psychiatrist" by Dr. Van Johnson - A Harrowing True Story of Wrongful Conviction and Injustice
October, 2024 –
The true story memoir of a young Black doctor lured under false pretenses to a small white town, threatened, attacked, and framed.
In 1989, Dr.Van Johnson M.D. was recruited by St. John’s Hospital of Anderson to open a private practice in Anderson, IN. After he relocated from Chicago to Anderson, he was told it was mandatory to sign two $298,000 one-year term life insurance policies containing riders for double indemnity in the event of accidental death within a year. June 5, 1990, a state police officer warned Dr.Johnson about an impending attack on his life. The night of June 10, 1990, a man in a paramilitary outfit breaks into his home and attacks him. Dr.Johnson was forced to defend himself which resulted in the loss of the assailant's life. June 11, 1990, the ordeal was the lead story in the Chicago Defender Newspaper, and Channel 8, WISH-TV. Despite his right to self-defense, Dr.Johnson was imprisoned for 18 years.
Framed & Profiled: The Legal Lynching of a Black Psychiatrist sheds light on one Black American doctor’s battle for freedom from a flawed and corrupt criminal justice, legal, and court system.
Through his personal story, he exposes the systemic racism and widespread injustices that plague America’s criminal justice and legal system, where those wrongfully convicted continue to suffer while the quest for freedom and justice seems perpetually out of reach.
About the Author
Dr. Van Johnson M.D. is a native of Chicago, Illinois who grew up in a religious family. He graduated from University of Illinois at Chicago in just 3 years, and then completed a Health Careers Fellowship at Harvard University. He went on to earn a Doctorate of Medicine from Rush Medical College—one of their youngest scholars of that time. Dr. Johnson M.D. completed medical internships at Mount Sinai Hospital Medical Center and Jackson Park Hospital. He completed his Psychiatry Residency at Illinois State Psychiatric Institute before becoming the Medical Director of Cumberland Hall Child/Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatric Hospital. He opened his own private practice, Van Johnson Mental Health Inc., and served as a consultant, forensic psychiatrist, and staff psychiatrist at several other mental health centers and correctional facilities. His memoir, Framed & Profiled: The Legal Lynching of a Black Psychiatrist is available now on FramedandProfiled.com.
For review copies, interviews, or further information, please contact:
Dr. Van Johnson M.D.