NORTH COAST, Calif. – An appellate court decision handed down this week could result in a retrial or reduced murder convictions for two men sent to prison for a 2011 homicide.
In a published decision filed Tuesday in San Francisco, a three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeal reversed one of several convictions entered in 2012 by the Mendocino County Superior Court against Marvin Douglas Johnson Jr., 36, and Simon Thornton, 26, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office.
At times referred to as the Bushay Campground murder case, Johnson and Thornton are the defendants convicted of murdering Joe Litteral in 2011 at Lake Mendocino, along with attempting the murder of another man and the attempted kidnapping of Johnson's estranged wife, officials said.
Johnson and Thornton were sentenced to and are currently serving sentences of 25 years to life and 34 years to life, respectively, the district attorney's office said.
In its lengthy and at times highly technical decision, the Court of Appeal held that one of the many instructions used by the trial judge to instruct the jury on the law had the potential of being misunderstood by the jury in regards to the first degree murder conviction.
That notwithstanding, the appellate court affirmed each conviction of these defendants for attempted murder and attempted kidnapping.
According to the decision, “Unless the prosecution brings each defendant to trial within the period prescribed by law ..., the trial court shall proceed as though the judgment on appeal had been reduced on count 1 to second degree murder for each defendant.”
The court’s decision is currently under review by Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster and his senior staff.