Man convicted of 1991 Salinas murder denied resentencing

The Monterey County District Attorney has denied resentencing for a man convicted of a 1991 home invasion murder in Salinas.

In June of that year, John Lewis Drayton along with Eugene Ballance, Annette Durr, Lester Polk and Patrick Richardson planned a home robbery. The four men went into the home at 2 a.m., and Drayton, Polk and Richardson were armed.

Polk and Richardson went into the master bedroom and found the husband and wife homeowners, and Polk announced that this was a robbery. Richardson put their guns to the couple’s heads and demanded that they say where their safe was.

When the couple told them repeatedly that there was no safe, Drayton and Richardson found their 17-year-old daughter in her bedroom and led her by gunpoint to the master bedroom. When the robbers demanded to know the location of the safe again, Drayton pinned the wife on the floor with his foot. He put his gun to her back and told her not to move.

They told the robbers again there was no safe, and at that point Polk told the 17-year-old to undress and he sexually assaulted her with his shotgun. He said he would make the parents watch as he raped her, and as Polk went toward her, her father struggled with Richardson.

Polk went to help Richardson with the man struggling, and Polk’s shotgun fired. After that, Richardson shot the father in the back, severing his spine.

The robbers left the house, but before leaving, Drayton ordered the wife and daughter not to move for the next 15 minutes. They spent a total of 48 minutes in the home, and within minutes of being shot, the father bled to death.

At first, Drayton was charged with murder and three special circumstances that made him eligible for the death penalty. Before it went to trial, he pled guilty to one count of first degree murder and a gun enhancement. He was sentenced to 29 years to life in prison.

In 2018, a law passed changing the definition of murder in California. It also lets offenders who have already been convicted of murder relief if their convictions are not within the new definition. Under that new law, a suspect cannot be convicted of felony murder unless they are the actual killer or a major participant in the underlying felony and acted with indifference to human life.

Judge Pamela Butler ruled that Drayton was a major participant in this case and acted with reckless indifference to human life. Polk and Richardson have filed petitions for resentencing.