Richmond gang member takes 36 years for two killings; one in jail, another on a Contra Costa freeway

Richmond gang member takes 36 years for two killings; one in jail, another on a Contra Costa freeway

MARTINEZ — A member of a small Richmond-area gang has accepted a plea deal that includes a 36-year prison sentence for two separate killings, one of which occurred in a jail while the defendant was facing murder charges.

Elliot Johnhenry Johnson, 29, pleaded no contest to two voluntary manslaughter counts, a conspiracy charge, and various enhancements in exchange for prosecutors dropping two murder charges against him. Johnson has been in jail since 2017, when he was charge with murder in the Interstate 80 shooting that killed 24-year-old Demarcus Doss.

Three years later, Johnson and his co-defendant in the Doss murder case, Bryan Jamarie Anderson, allegedly attacked beat 32-year-old Levele Williams, an Oakland resident who suffered a broken jaw and died one day later during surgery. Prosecutors charged both Anderson and Johnson with murder under the theory that the beating led to Williams’ death.

Anderson — the person who prosecutors allege shot and killed Doss while Johnson was driving their vehicle — still has two pending murder charges. His case was recently sent back to juvenile court, pending a possible re-transfer to adult court, because he was 17 at the time Doss was killed.

Johnson’s plea deal was finalized at a court hearing in Martinez on Friday, but he is still awaiting sentencing. His attorney declined to comment.

According to police testimony, Doss died a hero. He and his girlfriend were stuck in traffic on Interstate 80 on the day of the shooting when a vehicle allegedly containing Anderson, Johnson, and a third man named Lonnie Hopkins Jr., 23, pulled up and opened fire.

Doss reportedly used his own body to shield his girlfriend from harm, and was struck by several bullets as a result. Hopkins accepted a plea deal to a manslaughter charge in 2019 and was sentenced to 13 years in state prison.

Anderson and Johnson became cellmates in the Martinez Detention Facility, and were involved in several other beatings and other crimes, police say.

In May 2019, they were caught with a homemade knife in their cell. The following month, they broke another inmate’s nose and gave him a concussion during an attack, according to police. Johnson admitted involvement in both incidents as part of the plea deal.

When they allegedly attacked Williams, the two were supposed to be locked away in their cells. But they were somehow able to bypass the lock and jump on Williams, who was punched and kicked during the attack. Anderson later allegedly admitted the incident was preplanned on a recorded jail call to another person, according to police testimony.

Anderson, Johnson, and Hopkins are all alleged to be part of the same gang based in Richmond’s Parchester Village neighborhood.