PROSECUTOR: Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Tucker, Prison Crimes Unit
Erik St. John was convicted by a jury of assault on a non-confined person by an inmate with a deadly weapon and a personal use allegation was found true. He was also convicted of four counts of possession of an inmate-manufactured stabbing weapon and resisting an executive officer.
On February 10, 2015, California State Prison-Sacramento inmate Erik St. John refused to submit to handcuffs and exit his cell. He also secured a bed sheet to the cell light fixture to hide behind. After many attempts to get St. John to submit to handcuffs, the cell extraction team entered the cell. St. John leaped out from behind the sheet, reached around one of officer’s shields and stabbed the officer several times with an inmate-manufactured weapon. St. John was eventually subdued by officers. On September 25, 2015, St. John was found to be in possession of another inmate-manufactured weapon. On June 28, 2016, officers searched St. John’s solely occupied cell and found two inmate-manufactured weapons and another inmate-manufactured weapon was found in his cell on October 13, 2016.
St. John has a prior 2006 strike conviction for criminal threats with a hate crime allegation and a 2014 strike conviction for arson.
He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison. Sentencing is set for March 9, 2018, at 9:00 a.m. in Department 29 before the Honorable Geoffrey Goodman.
