People v. Johnson

After a prison guard, Sergeant Dean Burchfield, was speared to death inside San Quentin Prison, three inmates affiliated with the Black Guerilla Family (BGF) were charged with conspiracy to murder (Pen. Code, § 182) and murder (§ 187). A special circumstance, the murder of a peace officer, was also alleged. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(7).)

Appellant Andre Johnson was found guilty, and the jury recommended the death penalty; however, the trial judge reduced the penalty to life imprisonment without possibility of parole, together with a consecutive sentence of 25 years to life for conspiracy to commit murder. The trial court imposed the same sentence on appellant Lawrence Woodard, after the jury was unable to agree on the penalty. Their codefendant, Jarvis Masters, was also found guilty and was sentenced to death; his automatic appeal has been pending before our Supreme Court since 1990 (People v. Masters (S016883)).

In the published portions of this opinion, we hold: (1) The trial court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting appellants’ attempts to offer expert testimony, which tended to show that other witnesses may have a tendency to tell untruths; and (2) the trial court…