| For Immediate Release Case # 07CF2849
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Contact: Farrah Emami Spokesperson Office: 714-347-8405 Cell: 714-323-4486 |
CONVICTED MURDERER CHARGED IN NEW CASE FOR LURING FRIEND AND DRIVING HIM TO BE EXECUTED
IN WHITE SUPREMACIST GANG CONSPIRACY
*Also charged with lying to the jury in the murder trial of Michael Lamb and Jacob Rump
SANTA ANA – A convicted gang member serving time for a 2004 murder was charged today for his involvement in the 2002 white supremacist gang conspiracy murder of a fellow gang member who divulged gang secrets on television. Billy Joe Johnson, 44, has been charged with special circumstances murder, felony conspiracy to commit a crime, and felony accessory after the fact. He faces sentencing enhancements for criminal street gang activity, being a gang member vicariously discharging a firearm causing death, murder by lying in wait, and murder committed for a criminal street gang purpose. Johnson also has three prior strike convictions for a 1983 residential burglary, a 1989 robbery, and for beating an inmate in prison in 1995.
The special circumstances murder makes Johnson eligible for the death penalty, but the District Attorney has not yet made a decision whether to seek it against the defendant. Johnson is currently serving a sentence of 45 years to life in prison following a 2006 conviction for a 2004 gang related murder. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the new charges tomorrow, Friday, August 24, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-5, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
The Case
In February of 2001, Fox 11 News broadcast a profile on a violent white supremacist criminal street gang that focused primarily on a pending case against known leaders of the gang who were on trial for conspiracy to commit murder. Scott Miller, a founding member of the gang, was featured in the broadcast, which offended fellow gang members because he was divulging gang secrets and airing what they considered “dirty laundry.” Miller’s voice and face were disguised on television, but his distinct tattoos were visible and made it possible for him to be identified by fellow gang members.
On March 8, 2002, Miller was at a party in Costa Mesa with other members of his white supremacist gang, including Johnson. Johnson is accused of luring Miller to leave the party, with the understanding that they would return later, under the guise of purchasing drugs in Anaheim. Johnson is accused of driving an unsuspecting Miller to an Anaheim apartment complex with the expectation that Michael Allen Lamb, now 33-years-old, and Jacob Anthony Rump, now 31-years-old, would be waiting there to murder the victim. Lamb and Rump were waiting in an alley near the apartment and executed Miller by shooting him in the back of the head at close range with a 9mm firearm.