An inmate has been found guilty of assaulting a correctional officer at California State Prison, Sacramento, in Folsom in 2015.
A Sacramento County jury convicted Erik St. John of assault on a non-confined person by an inmate with a deadly weapon. He was also found guilty of four counts of possession of an inmate-manufactured stabbing weapon and resisting an executive officer, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office news release.
On Feb. 10, 2015, St. John refused to allow himself to be handcuffed and to exit his cell. He secured a bed sheet to the light fixture in his cell so he could hide behind it, the news release said.
After many attempts to get St. John to submit to handcuffs, officers entered the cell. St. John leaped out from behind the sheet, reached around an officer’s shield and stabbed the officer several times with the inmate-manufactured weapon before he was subdued by officers, according to the news release.
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On Sept. 25, 2015, St. John was found in possession of another inmate-manufactured weapon. On June 28, 2016, officers searched St. John’s cell, which only he occupied, and found two more such weapons. Another inmate-manufactured weapon was found in his cell on Oct. 13, 2016, the news release said.
St. John has a prior 2006 strike conviction under California’s “three strikes” law for criminal threats with a hat crime allegation, and a 2014 strike conviction for arson.
He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison for the latest conviction, according to the District Attorney’s Office. He is to be sentenced March 9 by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Goodman.
Cathy Locke: 916-321-5287, @lockecathy
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