Johnson v. Super. Ct.
Annotate this CaseIn 1997, Cleamon Johnson was convicted for the first-degree murders of Peyton Beroit and Donald Loggins, with multiple-murder special-circumstances findings as to both. For these murders, Johnson was sentenced to death. In 2011, the California Supreme Court reversed Johnson's convictions and remanded for retrial. Before the second trial, the State investigated other murder and attempted murder cases from the early 1990s in which Johnson had been suspect. Ultimately, the State added new charges to the pending case against Johnson. In all, Johnson faced five capital murder charges and one attempted murder charge. The State also added gang enhancements. Johnson challenged the filing of the new charges in a motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution. The trial court denied the motion. The Court of Appeals, however, reversed, holding that the trial court erred in denying Johnson's motion to dismiss three of the new charges, but affirmed as to the others. As for gang enhancements added to the Beroit and Loggins counts, the Court remanded the case for an evidentary hearing to allow the State to present evidence to rebut the presumption of vindictiveness.
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