EX-CON TO SERVE LIFE IN PRISON JURY FINDS HIM GUILTY OF SLAYING.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer

An ex-convict faces life in prison without possibility of parole after he was convicted in the October 2003 slaying of a 71-year-old Littlerock man, who was bound and beaten in his home.

Ronnie Johnson, 29, was charged along with another man -- whose trial is expected to begin in January -- of robbing Charles Trice and leaving him to die of asphyxiation and a neck injury.

``Our theory at the trial was it was a robbery-murder,'' Deputy District Attorney Robert Sherwood said Wednesday after the verdict. ``There was testimony during the trial that the defendant knew the victim and that the defendant lived in the area.''

A Los Angeles jury deliberated about five hours Tuesday and Wednesday before convicting Johnson of first-degree murder with special circumstances, robbery and burglary. The jury acquitted him of auto theft.

The special-circumstance allegations make Johnson liable for life in prison without possibility of parole when he is sentenced in January. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

The defendants may have gone through the victim's house looking for drugs, according to trial testimony, but there was no evidence that Trice was selling drugs or had any in his residence, Sherwood said.

DNA evidence found on duct tape that was used to bind the victim came back with a match to Johnson, Sherwood said.

Johnson's attorney did not respond to a request for comment. The defense had argued that the DNA evidence was not reliable and that prosecution witnesses were not credible, Sherwood said.

The Los Angeles Superior Court jury began deliberating late Tuesday and reached its verdict Wednesday.

Co-defendant Ernest Scott, 27, also an ex-convict, is expected to begin trial in January.

Along with Trice's murder, Scott will be tried in the beating death three months earlier of Littlerock antiques shop owner Virginia Gnerlich.

The slayings were Littlerock's first in three years.

Johnson was arrested April 2004 on an unrelated drug offense and later charged with Trice's murder, records show. Scott was arrested two days later, and the following month was charged with Gnerlich's slaying.

Gnerlich, the owner of Victoria's Antique Garden, was beaten to death during a struggle inside her store in July 2003. Gnerlich, who had multiple sclerosis, lived in the Pearblossom Highway shop. The cash register was stolen, along with a small amount of money.

Trice's body was found in October 2003 in his home on East Avenue R-10 by his daughter, who came to pick him up for an appointment. Trice's killers took items from his home and stole his vehicle.

Scott had been released from prison two months before Gnerlich's slaying, and Johnson had been out of prison 2 1/2 years before Trice's death.

Scott had served time in the California Youth Authority as a juvenile, and in 2000 was sent to state prison for an attempted robbery in Long Beach, state records show. He was released on parole in May '03. Johnson was convicted in '95 of attempted robbery in an Antelope Valley case. In '99, he was convicted of forging a driver's license or identification and was released on parole in March '01.

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