Man convicted of murder in SLO County burglary gone awry asks for new sentence
One of the two men convicted of murder for their roles in a Los Osos home burglary gone awry is asking for a reduced sentence, court documents show.
Separate juries convicted Jesse Michael Baker-Riley and Ryan James Johnson of the murder of their accomplice, Kelsy Alvarez, in 2011. The two were also found guilty of burglary charges.
Baker-Riley is currently serving a prison sentence of 35 years to life at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad.
Johnson was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison, but was resentenced and released from prison in July.
Baker-Riley, now 49, appeared in San Luis Obispo Superior Court via Zoom on Monday. His hearing to argue for a new sentence was scheduled for July 17.
SLO County home burglary results in shooting death
In 2009, Baker-Riley and his partners conspired to burglarize the Los Osos home of Peter Davis for cash and marijuana.
Baker-Riley and Alvarez broke into the home, while Johnson stayed behind at a friend’s house.
Baker-Riley demanded money and marijuana from Davis, who had a medical marijuana prescription, and his friend, Dylan Baumann.
Baker-Riley held the two at gunpoint — even laughing at one point and asking whether they’d seen the movie “Pulp Fiction” — and threatening to shoot and kill Davis and Baumann while clicking his gun’s safety on and off, court documents say.
Davis begged Baker-Riley to spare his life, and when Baker-Riley didn’t respond, court documents say, “Davis thought he was going die.”
That’s when Davis grabbed a gun and fired shots.
Three bullets struck Baker-Riley, who survived, and one struck and killed Alvarez.
According to court documents, Johnson was at Janine Lindemans’ house during the robbery.
Johnson “boasted” that he was “running things,” court documents say, and told Lindemans his “homies were basically doing a home invasion” with a gun.
A jury convicted Baker-Riley of murder by provocation, as well as two counts of robbery and burglary in January 2011. He was sentenced to prison that May.
A different jury found that Johnson conspired with Baker-Riley and Alvarez. Since he helped plan the robbery, jurors found, he was also responsible for Alvarez’s death.
The jury convicted Johnson of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit robbery, first-degree home burglary, being a principal in a crime involving a firearm and first-degree home robbery using a firearm. He was sentenced to 26 years to life in state prison in 2011.
Davis was not charged with a crime because he acted in self-defense.
Men convicted of murder seek new prison sentences
Both Baker-Riley and Johnson filed petitions for new sentences in June 2019 after the California State Assembly passed Senate Bill 1437, which allowed defendants convicted of certain types of murder to vacate the conviction and obtain resentencing on remaining charges.
Now-retired San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Dodie Harmon denied those petitions in 2019. She ruled the law the defendants were depending on was unconstitutional because the legislature was encroaching on the judicial branch, therefore there was a violation of separation of powers.
Baker-Rily and Johnson appealed the decision, but the California 2nd District Court of Appeal affirmed the decision to deny the petition in November 2020.
The appellate court said the constitutionality of SB 1437 wasn’t relevant in their analysis because the crimes didn’t qualify for the relief anyway.
Johnson filed a new petition to be resentenced in January 2022, while Baker-Riley filed his petition in May 2022.
Johnson’s petition was successful.
On June 15, 2022, his murder conviction and the related enhancements were overturned. His sentence was reduced to 15 years in prison.
Johnson had already accrued around 24 years of confinement credits, court documents show, so he was subsequently released. Johnson had served 12 years in state prison.
Baker-Riley, who has served a little more than 12 years in prison so far, is also seeking to have his sentence cut short.
