BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — A change in California's felony murder rule in 2019 has resulted in a number of petitions for resentencing being filed. A few convictions have even been overturned, but some have been denied. One of those denials came to Tyrone Johnson.
In 2022, Johnson pleaded no-contest to multiple felony counts of attempted murder and voluntary manslaughter in the killing of 3-year-old Major Sutton. Now, Johnson is arguing his case again with a petition that the District Attorney's office says has no merit.
In November 2017, gunmen kicked in the door to a home on Pershing Street and opened fire, killing Major Sutton and striking his pregnant mother and brother. Months later, police arrested Johnson along with two others, David Palms and Myeisha Dale, for the attack. In October 2022, Johnson was sentenced to 42 years and 8 months in prison.
The felony murder rule was changed in 2019 so that defendants previously convicted could argue their sentencing if they weren't the ones who fired the deadly shot.
Johnson attempted to argue his case under the change, but according to the Kern County District Attorney's Office:
The petition for resentencing he filed is designed for people who were convicted of murder, manslaughter, or attempted murder before the law changed in 2019. The point is that those convicted previously could argue that, had the change in law been in effect when they were convicted, that they would not have been convicted under the new law.
Since Johnson was convicted in 2022, well after the law had already changed, a judge has denied his petition. Johnson is due back in court on March 15 to begin the appeals process.
