Jonesboro

By SYLVESTER MONROE

MITCHELL JOHNSON, 13, was "shocked" at what the press wrote about him, so he wanted to explain publicly why he and ANDREW GOLDEN, 11, shot up their Arkansas school, killing four classmates and a teacher. So says Tom Furth, the Ohio lawyer hired by the boy's father. Last Friday ABC's BARBARA WALTERS on 20/20 was prepared to air Mitch Johnson's version of the day of the shooting, as related by Furth. But that afternoon the piece was abruptly dropped.

Details of the interview, including a "hit list" and Mitch's description of the attack, have since seeped into the tabloids. Earlier Furth had told TIME, "There are people that knew [the shooting] was going to happen and others who should have known." A source has also told TIME that after the shooting, the two boys had planned to drive three or four hours to a cabin in the woods owned by the Goldens. For that they needed gas, but the three stations the duo stopped at as they drove to school refused them service because of their age.

But why did ABC cancel the piece? Two days before his scheduled interview with Walters, Furth was bounced from the Jonesboro case by presiding judge Ralph Wilson, who declared that the lawyer, not shy about talking to the press, was not acting in the boy's best interest. Furth says he was told, "We don't practice law in Arkansas like that." BILL HOWARD, a public defender originally appointed by the court, remains Mitch's counsel. But Furth says he believed he still represented Mitch's parents (who are divorced) and continued to speak to the media, including ABC News and TIME. On Friday, however, just as Furth was to tape another 20/20 segment in Washington, ABC received a phone call from Howard, who said Mitch, apparently persuaded by his mother, had written a letter declaring that he did not want the piece to air and that it violated his attorney-client privileges. When Mitch's mother refused to take Furth's call, Furth says he decided to ask the network to yank its story.

Furth declares that "under no circumstances did I ever violate the attorney-client privilege." He insists that "both parents and Mitchell were aware of the content [of the interview] and authorized it." And he is worried about his former boy client. He says he recently received a letter from an Arkansas militia seeking vengeance. Parts of the note, he says, read ominously: "Mitchell must die. It might be tomorrow or next week or at the hearing...Or it might be after they are in detention. But we can get to Mitchell, and we will. Our only hope and prayer is that nobody beats us to him first."

--By Sylvester Monroe