Billy Joe Johnson, 46,white supremacist gang member in Orange County was sentenced to death Monday

white supremacist gang member in Orange County was sentenced to death Monday for his involvement in the murder of a fellow gang member who had divulged gang secrets on television, authorities said.Billy Joe Johnson, 46, was convicted last month of assisting two other men in the March 2002 murder of Scott Miller, a founding member of the gang, the Orange County district attorney's office said. Miller was featured in a Fox News broadcast a year earlier that focused on a criminal case against known leaders of the gang.Michael Allen Lamb, 35, and Jacob Anthony Rump, 34, were also convicted for their role in the murder. Last year Lamb was sentenced to death, and in 2007 Rump received life without the possibility of parole.Johnson was charged with this murder Aug. 23, 2007, after the conviction of two previously charged co-defendants. Co-defendants Michael Allen Lamb, 35, and Jacob Anthony Rump, 34, (Case #03CF0441) were convicted by a jury on July 10, 2007, of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, committing murder for the benefit of a criminal street gang, two counts of possession of a firearm by a violent felon, two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, carrying a firearm as an active gang member, two counts of street terrorism, and the attempted murder of a peace officer. The jury also found true the special circumstance of murder committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang and sentencing enhancements for criminal street gang activity, the personal discharge of a firearm causing death, and vicarious discharge of a firearm causing death as a gang member. On Oct. 5, 2007, Rump was sentenced to the maximum sentence, as sought by the People, of life without the possibility of parole. On June 11, 2008, a jury recommended that Lamb receive the death penalty. Lamb was sentenced Aug. 22, 2008, to death.

The Murder of Scott Miller
In February 2001, Fox 11 News profiled a violent white supremacist criminal street gang, focusing on a pending criminal 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, offending fellow gang members who felt he was airing "dirty laundry." While Miller's voice and face were disguised, his tattoos were visible and made it possible for fellow gang members to identify him.
On March 8, 2002, Miller was at a party in Costa Mesa with other members of his white supremacist gang. Johnson lured Miller from the party under the guise of purchasing drugs in Anaheim with the understanding that they would return to the party later. Johnson drove an unsuspecting Miller to an Anaheim apartment complex with the expectation that Lamb and Rump would be waiting there to murder the victim. Lamb and Rump were waiting in an alley and executed Miller by shooting him in the back of the head at close range with a 9mm firearm.On March 11, 2002, Lamb and Rump became involved in a police car chase in Anaheim. They tried to flee from police, jumped from the moving vehicle, and ran off into an apartment complex. As the officers attempted to close in on them, the defendants fired a shot at police officers. Lamb and Rump surrendered after the gun they were firing jammed. The gun used to shoot at the officers was the same 9mm that was used to murder Miller three days earlier. During the murder trial against Lamb and Rump, Johnson lied on the stand by testifying that he had been the shooter in the murder of Miller. He lied in order to make himself a "martyr" for his gang by attempting to keep Lamb and Rump out of prison. In order to testify, Johnson was brought to Orange County from state prison, where he is serving time for an unrelated 2004 gang murder, where he repeatedly hit a man in the head with a hammer.During the penalty phase of the jury trial against Johnson, the defendant admitted to committing two additional murders to which he had not been previously connected. Without giving the names of the victims, Johnson admitted that he had killed one additional man while out of custody and one inmate while in custody. The defendant claimed that he directed violence toward gang members, rapists, "rats", and drug dealers. Johnson testified that his victims brought their murders upon themselves and when asked if he had anything to say to Miller's mother, Johnson replied, "Sorry for your luck." Senior Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh of the Homicide Unit prosecuted this case.

Billy Joe Johnson should be sentenced to death, a jury recommended Thursday.

Billy Joe Johnson, 46,was convicted of murder for luring his childhood friend, Scott Miller, to his death on March 8, 2002, months after Miller gave what he thought was an anonymous interview on Fox11 News about the gang. Miller was gunned down outside an Anaheim apartment complex after he left a party. killed a fellow white supremacist gang member for revealing secrets about the gang should be sentenced to death, a jury recommended Thursday. A judge will decide whether to accept the jury's recommendation. Johnson is already serving a life term for the 2004 slaying of Cory Lamons in Huntington Beach with a claw hammer. Johnson, with his Mohawk-style hair combed down, smiled, chuckled and whispered to his attorney, Michael Molfetta, when the verdict was read. Johnson testified Tuesday that he wanted to be sent to Death Row because he believed it would be a less-restrictive confinement. The four women and eight men on the jury took about two-and-a-half hours to decide Johnson deserves the ultimate punishment, jury foreman John Pearson of Santa Ana said. The jury first voted 11-1 for death, with the holdout saying if Johnson wanted to be put on death row, why give it to him? After the jury went over the evidence again, they convinced the juror to change his mind, Pearson said. Molfetta argued that Johnson's life in prison, dependency on drugs and a rough childhood in Costa Mesa contributed to his downfall. But Pearson said the jury felt Johnson's lengthy rap sheet outweighed all that.
Johnson, when he took the stand Tuesday, admitted to killing two other men, one while in custody and another while free. Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh said authorities might be interested in learning more about those slayings so they can close the books on them, but there's "zero chance" he would be prosecuted for them since he will probably be sentenced to death. "I felt he was self-absorbed" and didn't respect the judicial process, Pearson said. "I don't think he cared personally one way or the other." Johnson, throughout the trial, often leaned in to Molfetta to whisper asides and laugh. Molfetta said Johnson has attention-deficit disorder and that he tried to go along with some of the antics to keep him as calm as possible even though he found it difficult to concentrate.

"Trust me, I know who is sitting alongside me," he said, acknowledging Johnson's violent past.

Johnson was pleased with the verdict and told his attorney to not get emotional, Molfetta said. "I told him I was going to get misty eyed and he told me not to," Molfetta said. "I said, `Doesn't this bother you?' And he said, `No, 20 years ago it might have but I've hardened over the years ...' He wants to go to Death Row. Billy Joe Johnson does not care. I've met many over the years who have said that, but he genuinely doesn't care." When Molfetta asked Orange County Superior Court Judge Frank Fasel to have the jury polled after the verdict was read, Johnson asked him why he bothered. "I told him once I did that and someone changed their mind and he said, `Jesus, that person's crazier than I am.' "I told him I didn't think that was true," Molfetta added. Another gang member, Michael Allen Lamb, 34, was sentenced to death for killing Miller Aug. 22, 2008. Also convicted of Miller's murder was Jacob Anthony Rump, 32, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole Oct. 5, 2007.
Prosecutors argued that Lamb delivered the fatal shot to the back of the head of the 38-year-old Miller, who was a founding member of Public Enemy Number One.
Prosecutors said Miller, known as "Scottish," was killed because he aired the gang's dirty laundry in a two-part news report. The piece, broadcast on Feb. 20-21, 2001, focused on the evolution of the gang -- which grew out of the 1980s punk rock music scene in Long Beach, then evolved to racist skinheads to criminal thugs, authorities said. Miller, though his face was obscured, was recognized by gang members in the TV appearance because of a tattoo and his pet pit bull. Johnson may never have been prosecuted for the killing if he had not chosen to testify in the murder trials of Rump and Lamb. In that case two years ago, Johnson testified he was the shooter.
But according to Baytieh, Johnson's role was luring Miller to his death by asking him to join him on a ride to Anaheim to buy drugs. Johnson was found guilty of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and accessory after the fact, with sentencing enhancements for criminal street gang activity, vicarious discharge of a firearm by a gang member causing death, and special circumstance allegations of murder by lying in wait and murder committed for a criminal street gang. Fasel will formally sentence Johnson Nov. 20.