28 y.o.man in CA pleads guilty to committing/participating in ELEVEN murders,all during 1993,gets Life sentence
Joe1orbit
Over in California, 28 year old Johnnie Malarkey, who is already behind bars
for helping his sister commit one murder, has now pled guilty to killing, on
his own, TEN other people! Wow, that is an impressive kill total! He entered
this guilty plea yesterday, and was immediately sentenced to multiple Life
prison terms.
It was back in 1993 that Johnnie stormed into a bar/club in Fresno, CA, and
opened fire inside of Carillo's Club, succcessfully slaughtering SEVEN people,
then fleeing the scene. He did have an accomplice, who also fled successfully,
but is believed to have killed himself last October, apparently when police
finally were closing in on the two of them, and getting ready to make their
arrests.That same year, Johnny committed three additional murders, giving him a
total of 10. Although the fact that he did NOT act alone in the commission of
some of the killings does serve to dilute my interest to some degree, since I
identify best with solo, lone killers.
Still, for a 23 year old fellow to embark upon a killing rampage, harvesting
ELEVEN victims in total, all during a SINGLE year, is quite impressive and
worthy of note, notwithstanding the fact that Johnnie had accomplices to help
him carry out some of the 11 killings.
In exchange for the guilty plea prosecutors agreed not to seek the legal
murder of Johnnie, via the death penalty, for any of the 11 killings. So at
least he will get to live out his hopefully long life, able to relish the
pleasures that can only be achieved while alive, even in a prison cell. Because
a free MIND is far more valuable and precious than any other type of freedom. I
hope that Johnnie's mind is free, and will never be captured or caged by any
person or societal institution.
If you would like to see a photo of Johnnie, sitting in the courtroom
yesterday just as he was about to enter a guilty plea to the ten murders,
simply point your web browser to:
Be advised that this page is updated daily, so you had better be quick if you
desire to get a gander of the visage of our 28 year old mass/serial killer of
11 humans, in total.
I think that Johnnie does deserve to be classified as serial killer. Even
though he committed SEVEN of the 11 murders in mass murder style, at least 2 of
the other 4 killings were probably done in serial fashion, so overall I will
not deny him the classification of being a serial killer. Seems like Johnnie
was also a gun lover, he owned more than FORTY guns at one point in time. That
is a lot, but I still have him beat in the arms race, owning OVER 40 guns, all
of them legally puchased and possessed, of course.
I wish I could get more excited about this case, but the fact that Johnnie
had accomplices and cohorts does very seriously diminish my overall interest in
this case, despite the 11 killings that Johnnie is being credited with.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of today's Associated Press news wire:
Man Pleads Guilty to 1993 Massacre
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - A man already in prison for helping his sister in a
killing has admitted to killing seven people during a bar robbery and three
others in separate attacks. He was sentenced to multiple life terms.
Johnnie Malarkey, 28, pleaded guilty Tuesday to shooting seven people to death
at a Fresno club in 1993 and to three other killings that year. In exchange for
his plea, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.
Malarkey's lawyer said his client proposed the plea bargain to try and put the
killings behind him.
``Johnnie does have a conscience, despite the fact that he's admitted to 10
murders,'' attorney David Gottlieb said. ``In meetings that I've had with him,
he's cried. He does feel remorse.''
Superior Court Judge Gene Gomes sentenced Malarkey to eight consecutive life
terms with no possibility of parole, a 37-year term and a 40 years-to-life
term.
The sentences were added to a 25-year sentence he is serving for a series of
1993 shootings, including the slaying of a 70-year-old man. Police said his
sister, Lanelle Malarkey Denn, shot the victim to loot his mobile home. She was
sentenced to 34 years to life in prison.
Malarkey had been the leading suspect in the shooting deaths at Carrillo's
Club, the worst mass murder in Fresno County. Two men entered the bar just
after closing and opened fire. The second gunman is believed to have committed
suicide last October.
AP-NY-07-08-98
------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 7/7/98 online edition of The Fresno Bee
newspaper:
Malarkey expected to admit to 10 killings
BY PABLO LOPEZ THE FRESNO BEE
(Published July 7, 1998)
For five frustrating years, detectives believed they knew who was responsible
for Fresno's biggest mass murder - the May 1993 slaying of seven at Carrillo's
Club.
Today, they hope that a confession by the longtime leading suspect, Johnnie
Malarkey of Fresno, will finally close the book on those killings, as well as
three others.
District Attorney Ed Hunt confirmed Monday that prosecutors are working on a
deal in which Malarkey could escape the death penalty by confessing this
afternoon to the 10 killings. In exchange, he would be sentenced to 10
consecutive terms of life in prison without any possibility of parole, Hunt
said.
Malarkey, 28, is already serving a 25-year prison term for a series of 1993
shootings and he is facing trial for the killing of Charles Ray Martin, one of
the 10 cases under negotiation.
At one point, Malarkey was expected to plead guilty to 10 murder counts in a
closed-door court hearing late Monday, but law enforcement sources said the
complexity of the arrangement pushed the court session back to today.
The sources said negotiations had been under way for about a month and had
broken down more than once. As of Monday, Malarkey had not signed a confession,
and final details were being worked out between prosecutor Burton Francis and
defense lawyer David Gottlieb, who could not be reached to comment.
Legal sources and relatives of some of the victims said Malarkey would admit
that he and longtime friend Allen Heflin, who committed suicide in October,
fatally shot four men and three women as part of a robbery at Carrillo's. The
Kings Canyon Road cantina never reopened after the massacre.
The sources said Malarkey also agreed to confess to three other murders - the
1993 slayings of Martin and Earl Lee Grant, and one other. Sources would not
name the third victim.
"Some of us think he is getting off easy, but the majority of the family wants
it to end," said Reyes Carrillo Jr., 26, whose father, Reyes Sr., owned
Carrillo's Club and was among those killed.
Reyes Carrillo Jr.'s mother, Mary, also was shot but survived.
"She is still shaky and has nightmares," the younger Carrillo said. "She wanted
to see it the plea agreement with Malarkey more than anyone else."
Because the plan is for Malarkey to be charged, enter a plea and be sentenced
all in one court appearance, state law required authorities to notify victims'
relatives. Members of the Carrillo family were originally told to be in court
Monday but were then told to be there late today.
A motive for the slaying of Grant, a tax examiner for the Internal Revenue
Service, has never been disclosed. He was shot to death May 30, 1993, as he
rode his bicycle in Fresno's Sunnyside neighborhood.
Malarkey's father, John Malarkey Sr., said Monday that word of a confession was
news to him. He said he visited his son Sunday in the Fresno County Jail, and
his son did not say anything about a plea bargain.
"This is a big surprise to me," Malarkey said.
Since shortly after the killings at Carrillo's, Fresno police say they have
been tantalizingly close to solving the case. During other investigations
related to Malarkey, they said they recovered at least three weapons, including
an assault rifle, that had been used at the nightclub.
Law enforcement sources had said repeatedly that the principal suspects were
Malarkey and brothers Allen and Troy Heflin, who is serving a 24-year-prison
term in connection with a non-fatal 1993 shooting that involved all three men.
Ballistics tests also determined that a bullet recovered from that 1993
shooting matched a bullet recovered from Carrillo's, lawyers involved with the
case said.
Nearly five years ago, homicide Sgt. Daryl Green declared, "We know who did it.
The suspects know we know who did it. It's just a matter of time."
But despite the ballistics evidence, detectives were never able to prove that
Malarkey or any associates were at the club that night. Malarkey, who at one
time owned at least 40 guns, told detectives he had lent some of them to
friends before the killings.
Barry Rekoon, a lawyer for Troy Heflin, said in 1993, "This group is so
tight-lipped that nobody's ever going to roll over." Asked why, he replied,
"Fear."
Authorities would not say exactly what led to the negotiations with Malarkey.
Police sources did say, though, that the Carrillo's case began to jell after
Allen Heflin's suicide and after authorities charged Malarkey and his sister,
Lanelle Malarkey Denn, with another killing that occurred 13 days before the
Carrillo's Club slayings. That was the May 3, 1993, slaying of Martin.
Malarkey and Denn were charged with Martin's slaying in May while they were in
state prison in connection with another 1993 killing, the shooting death of
70-year-old Carl Worley. They have pleaded innocent to the Martin slaying and
are facing trial in Fresno Superior Court.
Authorities did not say Monday how a plea bargain with Malarkey would affect
the case against Denn.
Denn is serving a term of 34 years to life in prison for the actual shooting of
Worley.
Although Malarkey and Denn are currently charged with another killing from 1993
- the May 3 slaying of Martin - Fresno police said they did not know until
recently of a connection between that victim and Malarkey. That information
reportedly was developed as part of a prison-based investigation by Fresno
police and the Fresno County Sheriff's Department.
Law enforcement sources contend that Malarkey, Denn and Allen Heflin lured
Martin into a bedroom of Malarkey's southeast Fresno home so they could rob
him.
Martin, a 35-year-old cement finisher, was shot in the head several times,
according to a court document.
His body was then rolled up in a carpet and thrown in the back of his pickup,
which was burned. The charred truck was discovered the next day on Sumner
Avenue near Maple Avenue in southeast Fresno.
Martin's mother, Dorothy, said Monday that she approved of the proposed deal
with Malarkey.
"I'm not out for revenge because God will judge him," she said in a telephone
interview from her home in Beaumont, Texas. "At least he won't be able to hurt
someone else. This will put him out of circulation."
Michael Newton
>
> Hello,
>
> Over in California, 28 year old Johnnie Malarkey, who is already behind bars
> for helping his sister commit one murder, has now pled guilty to killing, on
With a name like that, can insanity be far behind?
mn