Jury finds Red Bluff man guilty in motorcycle dragging death of neighbor
A Tehama County man has been convicted of murder in the dragging death of his neighbor in February 2021.
A jury on Wednesday found 38-year-old Ray N. Cain Jr. guilty of first-degree murder with a special circumstance that the killing was committed through torture, according to the Tehama County District Attorney's Office.
Cain was charged with dragging Johnny Lee Gregory Jr., 62, from behind his motorcycle while leading police on a chase, the DA's office said.
Cain was also convicted of fleeing from police officers while driving his motorcycle recklessly on Feb. 8, 2021.
Red Bluff police Lt. Matt Hansen said at the time the victim lived upstairs from Cain in a fourplex on Franzel Road.
Prosecutors say Cain beat Gregory inside his apartment, tied a rope around his feet and threw him down the stairs to the sidewalk.
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Police investigators said at the time they hadn't determined exactly why Cain attacked his neighbor.
Gregory was unconscious when Cain tied the other end of the rope to his 2004 Honda motorcycle and led officers on a high-speed pursuit on Franzel Road and South Jackson Street, the DA's office said.
A Red Bluff police officer fired several shots at Cain but missed him as he turned onto South Jackson Street, police previously said.
"The rope holding Mr. Gregory to the motorcycle came loose on South Jackson and he was pronounced dead at that location," the DA's office said.
Police caught Cain when he crashed his motorcycle while trying to get onto northbound Interstate 5. He was treated at St. Elizabeth Hospital before being booked into jail.
Cain has an extensive criminal history, according to police.
In June 2008, when Cain was 24, he was sentenced to eight years in prison in connection with the 2007 stabbing of two security guards at a Bechelli Lane nightclub in Redding.
Cain pleaded no contest to attempted voluntary manslaughter after a jury convicted him of assault with a deadly weapon, battery and other related charges in connection with the April 15, 2007, attack, according to Record Searchlight archives.
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Mike Chapman is an award-winning reporter and photographer for the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif. His newspaper career spans Yreka and Eureka in Northern California and Bellingham, Wash. Support local journalism by subscribing today.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Red Bluff man found guilty in motorcycle dragging death
