Inmate who murdered double homicide witness in Seaside in 1989 granted parole

SEASIDE, Calif. (KION) After spending 30 years in prison for the 1989 murder of 23-year-old Sonjii Yvette Johnson, Bradley Phillip Hardison has been granted parole.

Hardison pleaded guilty to the murder to avoid the death penalty, according to the Monterey County District Attorney's office, and later tried to appeal because of "ineffective assistance of counsel" and wrongful denial of parole. The DA's Office said he denied the murder at parole hearings up until 2007.

In 1989, Johnson was a witness in the double homicide of Victor Austin and Melvin Maxwell that happened in July of that year in Seaside. The DA's Office said she gave law enforcement information suggesting that Hardison was involved in the murders and drug violations. Her information led to a search of Hardison's apartment, where investigators found guns, drugs, a large amount of cash and items related to drug trafficking.

In November 1990, Hardison admitted in a post-plea interview that he shot Johnson and injured her brother because he felt that she betrayed him.

On Aug. 6, 1989, he and another person drove around looking for Johnson and followed her to her parents' Seaside home. He had the driver park near her house, and he got out, walked toward the house and shot through the driver's side window of her car.

Johnson was shot five to six times in the upper torso and her brother, Bobby Johnson Jr., was shot in the left hip. He was a passenger in the vehicle, and investigators believe the bullet that hit him passed through his sister. The bullet came to a stop near his spine and was never removed.

At the parole hearing Wednesday, Johnson's mother asked the Board of Parole not to release Hardison. In a written submission, she said, "She was my daughter. I could always depend on her because she would stick by her word. I always told my children, if something is not right, and you can make a difference by doing the right thing. Sonya [sic] believed in telling the truth because she was taught this as a child growing up. The last time I saw my daughter alive was early that morning. I still feel like something has been ripped out of me.”

Johnson's mother said she asked community members who remembered the murder to write opposition letters but said they were too afraid of Hardison.

The Board of Parole said there were Youthful Offender factors that made Hardison eligible for parole. Although he is now 56 years old, he was 25 at the time, below the age 26 cut-off for Youthful Offender consideration.

The board said that while Hardison has been in prison, he got an associate's degree in social sciences in 2015; developed skills in electrical, fiber optics and bookbinding; gained insights into character defects and accepted responsibility for the murder in 2007.

The Monterey County DA's Office said the last instance of violence while in prison was in 1996 for mutual combat and his last rule violation was in 2013 when he was caught with a cellphone. The DA's Office said a psychologist found that he is low risk for more violent offenses.

Hardison was an inmate at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad.