Details of a third killing

As pictures of a convicted child molester’s smashed-in and bloodied skull from 1991 were splashed on the courtroom screen Tuesday morning, Costa Mesa native Billy Joe Johnson smiled.

Though he was never charged for the crime, Deputy Dist. Atty. Ebrahim Baytieh claims Johnson killed the man while both were in Folsom State Prison in Sacramento.

If Johnson was involved in the inmate’s 1991 slaying, the case of the dead prisoner would bring the number of murder cases associated with Johnson to three.

He faces a potential death penalty for helping to kill another man, Scott Miller, in 2002. Johnson, 46, previously was convicted of killing a third man with a claw hammer in 2004, and sentenced to 45 years to life in prison for that crime.

Prosecutors in the Central Justice Center courtroom in Santa Ana are highlighting Johnson’s past, hoping that it will convince a jury to recommend death in the trial’s penalty phase. He was convicted of murder by the same jury last week.

Johnson’s attorney, Michael Molfetta, did little to rebut testimony Tuesday that Johnson helped kill a fellow prisoner 18 years ago.

Baytieh submitted a prison guard’s report and a letter from an inmate as evidence that Johnson helped kill a child molester in 1991. The guard’s report retells inmate Ronald Rostamo’s statement days after the killing.

Rostamo testified Tuesday that he did not remember anything from the incident or speaking with police. He did admit in cross-examination that if word gets back to other inmates that he spoke with guards about the incident 18 years ago, his life could still be in danger.

A prison guard testified Tuesday that Rostamo was working near Johnson and another inmate on a hill in the prison yard near a work shed. The other inmate walked up to Johnson and told him “He’s not dead yet,” then the two vanished behind the shed.

A guard on patrol noticed a stream of blood trickling along the fence and followed it about 15 minutes later. He quickly discovered an inmate’s body stuffed between the shed and some boulders. Both of the victim’s eye sockets were smashed in, he had cuts and holes near the top of his head and he was covered in blood.

Another officer who worked there at the time said authorities concluded that Johnson and the other inmate used the handle of a shovel and a metal fence post to kill the man.

Paul Longacer, who was an inmate with Johnson in 1991, testified that he sent a letter to the Orange County district attorney’s office earlier this year retelling how Johnson had bragged about the killing. Longacer testified that he hoped that the information would help him get leniency in his own criminal cases.

Suzanne Miller, Johnson’s girlfriend and convicted accomplice in the 2004 killing, testified Tuesday that there is another, gentle side to Johnson. She told jurors she’s seen Johnson bond with his oldest son. She said he has value as a father, brother and son and should not be sentenced to death.

Scott Miller was a fellow member of the white supremacist gang Public Enemy Number One with Johnson. Scott Miller was killed because he revealed gang secrets to the media in 2001.

The trial will continue Thursday because courts statewide are closed today. Baytieh expects to rest his case by Monday.