PROSECUTOR: Principal Criminal Attorney TeriAnn Grimes, Homicide & Cold Case Units
On September 30, 2025, Arties Johnson was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder. The jury also found true the allegation that Johnson personally used a knife in the commission of the murder and the special circumstance that the murder was committed during the commission of a burglary.
The victim was 66-year-old Clara Miller. On December 16, 1981, the victim’s front door was kicked in, leaving a boot print impression behind. She was beaten, strangled, stabbed multiple times in the stomach and once in her genitalia. Her attacker left the knife inside the victim’s genitalia before taking her purse and fleeing the scene in her car. At the time of the murder, Johnson had a friend who lived across the street from the victim. The night of the homicide, Johnson and his friend drank alcohol and went to a restaurant. On the way, they passed the victim’s burning car. Johnson pointed out the car to the friend saying it was the car of the lady he just killed. The next morning, Johnson watched as law enforcement processed the victim’s front door containing his boot print for evidence. Johnson and the friend took the boots and threw them in the levee, destroying any possible connection to the crime.
In May 1982, an anonymous caller reported to the Sacramento Police Department that the friend knew who killed the victim. Johnson’s friend ultimately identified Johnson as the killer and Johnson was arrested and charged with the murder. Johnson told the friend to “get rid” of the anonymous caller and get out of town. The friend fled to Ohio to avoid testifying in the murder case. Without the key witness, the case was dismissed at the preliminary hearing.
By 2024, advances in DNA technology was able to reveal Johnson’s DNA on the knife that had been left in the victim’s genitalia.
Johnson faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Sentencing is set for November 7, 2025, in Department 41 before the Honorable Helena Gweon.
