Longtime LA Public Defender, Father Dies From Apparent West Nile Virus

From CBS Los Angeles
October 8, 2018

SHADOW HILLS (CBSLA) – A longtime Los Angeles County Public Defender and father of two died over the weekend after contracting what was suspected to be West Nile Virus.

Fifty-three-year-old Robert Johnson of Shadow Hills passed away Saturday following a month-long fight with the viral infection, according to his husband Scott Montgomery.

Montgomery told CBS2 by phone Monday that Johnson started suffering flu-like symptoms over Labor Day weekend. About four days later, his fever spiked and he was hospitalized.

“I thought he had a stroke, that’s why I took him to the hospital,” Montgomery said. “Within a week of that he was on life support in a hospital.”

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