One of two men convicted in the shooting death of a security guard outside an East Village homeless shelter nearly four years ago was sentenced Friday to 81 years to life in state prison.
Johnny Lee Hill, 44, was convicted of second-degree murder for the killing of Ernest Lee Buchanan, a 44-year-old guard at the Alpha Project tent shelter on Imperial Avenue.
Co-defendant Floyd Garrett, 51, who represented himself at trial in San Diego Superior Court, was also convicted of second-degree murder and is slated to be sentenced next month.
A motive for the killing was not disclosed. Prosecutors alleged surveillance footage and smart streetlight cameras captured the men waiting for Buchanan to arrive from a meal break, then both men opened fire on him in the street around 7:30 p.m. Dec. 28, 2019.
Buchanan later died at a hospital.
At trial, Hill testified that he fired in self-defense because Buchanan pointed a gun at him. Prosecutors said Buchanan was unarmed and didn’t confront or provoke the men.
The two men were arrested about a week after the shooting.
Along with murder, Hill was sentenced for assault with a semi-automatic firearm, numerous firearm-related allegations. His sentences were doubled because he had a strike on his record for a 2010 conviction for assault with a deadly weapon.
