Rhoades Less Traveled:

It seems like every time someone gets caught and brought to trial for a heinous act, defense attorneys lay the blame at the feet of parents, husbands, co-workers, classmates — you name it.

We’ve all gotten familiar with the script: Joe defendant was the victim of an abusive home.

Or classmates were cruel.

Or co-workers drove him bonkers.

Such is the case with Billy Joe Johnson, the Costa Mesa native who was recently convicted of murdering a man in 2002. Johnson was already in prison for killing another man with a claw hammer. His attorney, Michael Molfetta, blames the prison system for hardening Johnson, who is expected to take the stand next week.

“What can turn young Billy Joe Johnson into the gentleman you see here today?” Molfetta asked jurors. “That which goes bump in the night?” The boogie man? The state prison system is our junk drawer. Open it and look in and you’ll see what it’s created.”

Molfetta never denied that Johnson lured a man to his death in Anaheim, so it appears that he was looking ahead to the sentencing portion of the trial and attempting to spare Johnson from the death penalty. Johnson was convicted, and jurors are deciding whether the white supremacist with an SS tattoo on his neck deserves death or life in prison without parole.

Johnson has shown little emotion during the trial but did smile when prosecutors, illustrating a possible third Johnson killing, which evidently occurred in prison and which resulted in no legal action, showed the bloodied skull of the victim, who was a convicted child molester.

But back to my point.

Haven’t we all grown weary of the finger-pointing that goes on every time a defendant stands trial for a violent crime? We’ve seen lawyers argue that post-birth depression caused a mother to drown her children, and that an abusive childhood caused two young men to open fire on their parents with a shotgun. And don’t forget the famous Twinkie defense, mounted by lawyers representing Dan White, who killed the mayor of San Francisco and a county supervisor in 1978. The defense team pointed to junk food as the culprit in worsening White’s depression, and it worked. White was convicted of manslaughter rather than murder.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve eaten many a Twinkie without turning murderous.

And, empirically speaking, evidence abounds of people who have overcome various traumatic events to go on and lead productive, law-abiding lives. Not to mention the obvious chink in Molfetta’s armor: How do you explain Johnson’s first murder, before he spent significant time in the hoosegow?

Personally, I’ll save my compassion for stray pups and abandoned babies, which is to say I hope jurors don’t give Johnson what he wants and opt instead for a long, dreary stay behind bars.

Maybe that will wipe the smile off his face.

BRADY RHOADES is the Daily Pilot’s editor. He may be reached at brady.rhoades@latimes.com or at (714) 966-4607.