Murder trial of white supremacist opens

The trial of a Costa Mesa white supremacist accused of killing a fellow gang member who told gang secrets to a television news camera crew is slated to begin today in Orange County Superior Court.

Bill Joe Johnson, 46, is accused of luring fellow gang member Scott Miller from a party in Costa Mesa to an apartment complex in Anaheim under the guise of buying drugs in 2002, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Two other gang members, Michael Allen Lamb, 35, and Jacob Anthony Rump, 33, laid in wait for Miller in an alley, where they shot him in the back of the head at close range with a 9-millimeter handgun.

Lamb and Rump were both convicted for their roles in Miller’s murder in 2007. Rump was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A judge sentenced Lamb to death.

If convicted, Johnson also faces the death penalty.

— Brianna Bailey