People v. Ashker CA3

facts underlying the crime, according to our unpublished opinion affirming his conviction (People v. Ashker (Apr. 30, 1992, C086886) [nonpub. opn.] at pp. 1-8 (Ashker)), were as follows: Defendant and Murphy, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, were housed in the same section of a maximum-security unit in Folsom Prison. The cell doors were electronically controlled from a control booth facing the cells. On shower nights, a guard would open a cell door to provide an inmate the opportunity to shower; the door would be closed when he left and then reopened when he returned.

Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 In May 1987, an inmate quit his job cleaning up the cellblock in the evening, and recommended defendant as his replacement. The next night, as defendant mopped the tier’s floor in front of Murphy’s cell, Murphy’s cell mate, Robert Tanner, returned from showering. At the time, Murphy was lying on his back across the bottom bunk, appearing to watch television. When the guard opened Murphy’s cell door for Tanner to enter, defendant dropped his mop and ran past Tanner into the cell toward Murphy. Tanner quickly followed, pulled a mattress…