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Mila
JOHNSON
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Argument over drug
money
Number of victims: 2
Date of murder:
August 9, 2006
Date of birth: 1977
Victim profile:
Duane Bailey and Sonia Chandiramani
Method of murder:
Shooting
(.40-caliber pistol)
Location: Los Angeles County, California, USA
Status:
Sentenced to death on September 3, 2010
Man gets death sentence for Harbor Gateway
killings
DailyBreeze.com
September 3, 2010
A man who killed two people at a home in Harbor
Gateway and permanently blinded another person was sentenced to death
today.
Mila Johnson, 33, was convicted March 12 of two
counts of first-degree murder for the Aug. 9, 2006, shooting deaths of
Duane Bailey and Sonia Chandiramani, along with one count each of
attempted murder and mayhem for the shooting of Glen Enriquez, who was
left permanently blind and uses a guide dog.
A separate jury recommended in July that Johnson be
sentenced to death. The first jury deadlocked on whether to recommend
death or life in prison.
Norwalk Superior Court Judge Philip H. Hikok today
rejected an automatic motion to reduce the jury's recommendation to
life in prison without the possibility of parole, saying the
aggravating circumstances in the case "absolutely warranted death."
Johnson, who testified in his own defense during
his trial earlier this year, told jurors that he shot Bailey and
Enriquez -- friends with whom he was staying -- because he feared for
his own safety after they pulled guns on him in separate encounters,
moments apart. He testified that he did not intend to shoot
Chandiramani.
Johnson told jurors that Enriquez pulled a gun on
him after he asked again for his share of the money -- $30,000 -- from
a drug rip-off in which they were involved.
"Right when he made the movement, I felt my life
was in danger," Johnson said. "I pulled it (the .40-caliber pistol)
out and fired in Glen's direction."
He said he fired two shots at Enriquez, but denied
firing at Chandiramani.
Johnson testified that he then went to Bailey's
room to get belongings that were stored there, and that Bailey told
him he wasn't going anywhere and emerged with a weapon.
"My assumption is he was turning around to point it
at me," the defendant said, telling jurors that he shot Bailey twice
out of fear for his own safety.
Jurors hear opening statements in Harbor Gateway murder case
DailyBreeze.com
February 18, 2010
A man was staying with longtime friends in Harbor
Gateway when he shot and killed two of them and permanently blinded a
third victim in an early morning attack in 2006, a prosecutor told
jurors Thursday.
One of Mila Johnson's attorneys, Cynthia LeGardye,
countered that her client was "acting in self-defense" when he shot
and killed Duane Bailey and wounded Glen Enriquez, who was left
permanently blind and uses a guide dog.
"The shot that hit Sonia was not intentional," the
defense attorney said of Sonia Chandiramani, who was also killed in
the Aug. 9, 2006, shooting.
Johnson is charged with two counts of murder for
the deaths of Bailey and Chandiramani and one count each of attempted
murder and mayhem for the shooting of Enriquez, along with the special
circumstance allegation of multiple murders.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against
the 32-year-old defendant.
Deputy District Attorney Dayan Mathai told the jury
of nine men and three women that "the evidence will show that
the defendant, Mila Johnson, betrayed and killed his closest friends"
after being allowed to stay at their house in the Harbor Gateway area.
"About 2 o'clock in the morning, Mila Johnson made
a fateful decision. He decided to go into Glen and Sonia's closed
bedroom and steal. They were sleeping," Mathai told jurors in his
opening statement.
The prosecutor said Johnson - armed with a .40-caliber
pistol - began rifling through items on the couple's dresser and was
asked by Enriquez what he was doing, prompting a brief argument.
Enriquez and his girlfriend were each shot in the
head, and Bailey - also a longtime friend who was in another bedroom -
was shot in the back before Johnson fled the home, Mathai said.
Ballistics testing linked a .40-caliber handgun
that Johnson left at a cousin's home in Long Beach, where he had
stayed after the shooting - the weapon was turned over to police by
another cousin - to bullet casings found at the crime scene, according
to the prosecutor.
Jurors will also hear testimony that Johnson's DNA
was on the gun, the deputy district attorney said.
Johnson's attorney countered that the shootings
were homicides, but that not all homicides are murder. "Some homicides
are justifiable and excusable," LeGardye said.
She told jurors that the three men had known each
other for years and were "all in the same gang" and came up with "a
plan to rob a drug dealer" of a large amount of marijuana," with them
netting 15 pounds of cannabis and Johnson expecting to get a share of
the sales proceeds.
Johnson's attorney said Enriquez pulled a gun on
her client, and that Bailey was not asleep and also had a gun.
She said the shootings in the 800 block of West
156th Street were "not intentional murder."
