California Supreme Court tosses death sentences

After upholding nearly 50 death sentences in a row, the California Supreme Court on Monday broke its pattern by overturning the convictions of a reputed gang leader in Los Angeles and his alleged accomplice in two killings that sent both men to death row for 15 years.


The state high court unanimously ruled that Cleamon Johnson and Michael Allen, convicted of killing rival gang members Peyton Beroit and Donald Loggins in 1991, were denied a fair trial when a judge removed a juror who appeared to be critical of the prosecution's case.


The court had upheld 46 consecutive death sentences before the unanimous ruling that overturned both the sentences and murder convictions of Cleamon Johnson and Michael Allen for two 1991 gang killings, said Johnson's lawyer, Andrew Love, an assistant state public defender. Prosecutors must now decide whether to retry them.


Even before the most recent two-year period, California's high court typically upheld more than 90 percent of the death sentences it considered each year, one of the nation's highest affirmance rates.


Although the court has a 6-1 majority of Republican appointees, its record on social issues has been moderate and occasionally liberal, but when it comes to death sentences, said Love, a longtime defense lawyer, "this is by far the most conservative court" in the nation.


Prosecutors in the Los Angeles case said Johnson, a leader of the 89 Family Bloods, ordered Allen to fire the shots that killed Peyton Beroit and Donald Loggins in a parked car in August 1991.


Police have said Johnson is responsible for many homicides, but this was his only conviction, and he could go free if he is not retried. Allen has been convicted of another murder and will remain in prison regardless of the outcome of this case.


During jury deliberations at their trial in 1997, Superior Court Judge Charles Horan concluded that a juror had prejudged the case and replaced him with an alternate. According to statements from fellow panel members, that juror had told them early in deliberations that he didn't think the prosecutor had a case when she ended her presentation of evidence against Johnson and Allen.


The juror denied prejudging the case, and voted "undecided" on guilt in the first jury poll. But Horan questioned each juror separately and found that the juror had made up his mind before deliberations. The reconstituted jury deadlocked briefly but then voted unanimously for convictions and death sentences.