Jury Convicts Man of 3 Counts of Murder

A Lake Los Angeles man who prosecutors said hated his family so much that he spent months carefully plotting their deaths was convicted Monday of three counts of first-degree murder.

Oliver Leroy Vann, 44, will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole at an Oct. 12 hearing because a Van Nuys Superior Court jury determined that he was guilty of the special circumstance allegation of committing multiple murders.

Vann used a .22-caliber rifle on Nov. 15, 1991, to fatally shoot his wife, Marie Antoinette Vann, 52; his stepson, Ronald T. Johnson, 30; and his stepson’s wife, Muriel T. Johnson, 40.

The bodies of Marie Vann and Muriel Johnson were found under a dining table in the Antelope Valley house the family shared on the 41000 block of 168th Street E. The women were both shot in the head.

Ronald Johnson was shot after he crashed through a plate glass window in an attempt to escape. The Johnsons’ three daughters were also in the house, but they were not harmed.

Vann showed no emotion when the guilty verdicts were read, but family members expressed their agreement by whispering “yes” and hugging each other as each count was read.

Prosecutors said Vann had a longstanding hatred for his family, a loathing that exploded on the night of the killings when there was a heated argument over who would pay the water and cable television bills.

One juror commented that Vann’s state of mind was reflected in a comment that he made to a fellow worker at a Palmdale K mart on the same day of the triple slaying: “If you read about a crazy guy who kills his wife, that’s going to be me.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph Payne said investigators uncovered evidence that Vann also threatened to kill supervisors at the Teledyne plant in Northridge, where he worked until being laid off several months before the shootings.

“He was a time bomb,” Payne said.

Testimony at the trial indicated that Vann bought a gun, took target practice and even told friends about his wish to kill his family.

Friends and other relatives warned the victims, particularly Vann’s wife, not to go home that night, but the warnings were not heeded, Payne said.

Vann was arrested about 5 1/2 hours after the slayings when he crashed into a truck on Interstate 15 near Victorville. A Highway Patrol officer recognized Vann’s light blue Mercedes-Benz as being linked to the triple killing.

After a lengthy and emotional fight over the lingering issue of finances in the household, and after years of browbeating by his wife, Vann reacted only out of anger and in the heat of his rage, defense attorney John Ponist said.

Members of the jury said they first examined the possibility that Vann acted during the heat of a family argument. If Vann had committed the slaying in this excited state, he would have been found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison for each count.

But the jury rejected this defense claim, finding that the murders “had already been planned,” said one panel member who declined to give his name.