“The Wire” creator David Simon has asked a Manhattan federal judge to go easy on fellow HBO producer Marc Henry Johnson for his role in the death of a Long Island doctor.
Simon urged “leniency” when Johnson is sentenced Aug. 15, just weeks before the premiere of HBO’s “The Deuce,” which he and Simon helped create.
The show, about the porn industry in the 1970s, is set to premiere in September.
Johnson faces up to two years in prison when he is sentenced for his role in death of Dr. Kiersten Rickenbach Cerveny, a married mother of three who died of a drug overdose after a night of snorting cocaine and partying with Johnson.
In his letter of support, Simon took issue with news reports that Johnson “abandoned” Cerveny in the vestibule of his drug dealer’s apartment — arguing instead that Johnson is a better man than depicted because he called 911 and waited for the ambulance to arrive.
“Had he not called for help and had he not remained with the victim, I could not now write this letter nor remain professionally associated with Mr. Johnson,” Simon wrote.
Prosecutors have acknowledged that Johnson waited from the ambulance to arrive before fleeing but said he provided the paramedics with no helpful information about Cerveny’s condition and insisted on anonymity in his 911 call.
Most damning, Johnson and his drug dealer pal, whose apartment Cerveny was in when she overdosed, carried the mom’s unconscious body down several flights of stairs before calling 911, court papers show.
Johnson, meanwhile, has sought to place some of the blame for his actions on his drug dealer, James “Pepsi” Holder, who was sentenced to five years in prison over Cerveny’s death.
In sentencing documents, Johnson’s lawyers claimed that the HBO producer was merely following Holder’s orders when he waited to call 911 before dragging Cerveny down the stairs in order to prevent the police from uncovering Holder’s illegal drug business.
In March, Johnson pleaded guilty to helping Johnson drag Cerveny’s unconscious body to the lobby in order to prevent the police from uncovering Holder’s stash house.