Opinion ID: 2551468
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Killing John Casas at Folsom Prison

Text: Glenn Albrecht, an inmate with a long record of felony convictions, testified that on the evening of February 21, 1980, he saw defendant stab John Casas to death in a shower area at Folsom Prison. At the time he testified, Albrecht was in custody at Avenal State Prison, and had about a year left to serve on a sentence for possession of marijuana for sale. On cross-examination, Albrecht acknowledged that he was a known and habitual prison informant and that he had testified against a former friend in another case. Walter Joe Lewis, convicted of murder twice and of two other felonies, testified that he was taking a shower on February 21, 1980, and saw defendant stab another inmateplainly Casas, though Lewis did not know the victim's name. He acknowledged that in exchange for his cooperation at trial the district attorney's office would try to have him transferred to another prison. He also acknowledged that the day after Casas was killed an individual from the district attorney's office interviewed him and, to protect himself, he denied having seen the killing. Instead, he reported defendant to the authorities on August 5, 1987, writing a letter to a Department of Corrections lieutenant at Tehachapi State Prison. He denied knowing that defendant had been charged with another crime when he wrote to the authoritiesinstead, he reported him in an effort to be transferred out of Tehachapi, which he regarded as a dull institution because it lacked sufficient educational opportunitiesbut he also testified, perhaps inconsistently, that he was testifying because I made a personal decision. I felt if I'd came [ sic ] forward in 1980, we wouldn't be here today. On cross-examination, Lewis acknowledged that he had decided to become a jailhouse informant in 1986. Lewis, who the record indicates is Caucasian, also acknowledged that he had been a member of the White supremacist Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, had been involved in racial conflicts with African-American inmates, was eligible for parole in 1991, and wanted to quit the gang and be moved out of a housing unit associated with it because he was less likely to obtain parole if still linked to it. He also acknowledged that the way to satisfy the prison authorities that his desire to leave the Aryan Brotherhood was genuine was to inform on other inmate members of the gang. And he acknowledged writing to a prison official in March of 1988 that if his transfer request was not granted he would not testify against defendant, and that he expected the prosecution to continue to seek a transfer for him following his testimony. Dr. Anthony Victor Cunha, a forensic pathologist who examined Casas's body the day after he was killed, testified that he died of a stab wound to the heart.