A California judge permitted a violent “third striker” to engage in a collaborative court program against prosecutors’ objections, and then he went out and fatally stabbed a man. The judge had already vacated two of the defendant’s prior convictions.
In 2023, outside of an Anaheim sober living facility, 53-year-old Yorba Linda native Effrum Burnett was found guilty of second-degree murder with a specific enhancement for the killing of Toye Jones. The murder occurred on July 18.
Bryon Martinez and Christina Roberts went to the Sober Living House under the guise of going to retrieve a truck. Jones and his roommate at the sober living facility abducted, drugged, and assaulted Roberts, according to Martinez and Burnett. According to Roberts, her captors let her go but took her pickup. The prosecution, however, contended that Jones and Burnett had never met prior to that day and that Roberts was not the rightful owner of the truck. It was all made up in order to get Martinez and Burnett to steal a car.
Burnett parked his automobile outside the sober living facility, got in the truck, and tried to start it. Jones emerged from the house and approached Roberts; he then engaged Burnett in a short altercation before returning to the residence. Bryan Huntington and Jorge Hinojosa-Salazar were the other males in the sober living home when it happened.
While the footage from the surveillance cameras only shows snippets of the altercations, it is evident that Burnett was trailing Jones with his right hand in his pocket. Jones returned to the house, hands clenched about his belly, after being struck many times; Hinojosa-Salazar then contacted 911 to claim that Jones had been stabbed multiple times.
One of the specific charges that led to Burnett’s conviction was the use of a knife in the murder. On July 19, sentencing is expected to take place. Burnett will appeal the sentence.
