Long Beach Murder Case Won't Be Reviewed: CA Supreme Court

LONG BEACH, CA — The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to review the case of a man convicted of murdering a fellow resident and sexually assaulting another woman at an assisted living home in Long Beach the same day.

Kerry Johnson — who required the use of a walker to move around at the time of the crimes — is serving a life prison sentence without the possibility of parole for the June 3, 2020, killing of Kathy Brown, 66.

Jurors also found true the special-circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of sodomy in connection with the attack on Brown, along with a forcible sodomy charge involving another attack the same day on a 68- year-old woman who was subsequently moved out of the assisted living home, according to a March 12 ruling from a three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal that rejected the defense's contention that there were errors in his trial.

The appellate court justices concluded in their opinion that "there was compelling evidence of Johnson's guilt of the charged crimes."

"Johnson told the police at the scene that he committed a sexual act with a woman who `came through' the residence and then left, and that she `didn't consent,"' according to the panel's 25-page ruling in March.

"Within a few hours of (the woman) reporting that Johnson sexually assaulted her, one of the managers of the residence found Johnson attempting to engage in a sexual act with Brown, who had been strangled to death.The appellate court justices concluded in their opinion that "there was compelling evidence of Johnson's guilt of the charged crimes."

Johnson, who was 69 at the time of the crimes and is now 74, was arrested early the next morning and has remained behind bars since then.