CALIFORNIA — A 30-year-old man was sentenced today to 26 years to life in state prison after he was found guilty of fatally stabbing his cousin last year, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.
On May 29, a jury deliberated for less than an hour before finding Bryant Keith Underwood guilty of first-degree murder in case NA098831. Additionally, jurors found true a special allegation that the defendant used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a knife, during the commission of the crime.
Deputy District Attorney Kelly Kelley, who prosecuted the case, said in the early morning of April 8, 2014, police received a 911 call reporting that there were strange noises coming from victim Ahkeem Johnson’s Long Beach apartment. Additionally, the caller said someone had been stabbed.
When police arrived on the scene, they found Johnson in his home with 28 stab wounds to his neck, back and torso, the prosecutor said. The 27-year-old victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
During the homicide investigation, a witness told authorities they saw Underwood, the victim’s cousin, unsuccessfully try to jump the back fence of the apartment complex following the stabbing, the prosecutor said.
As the defendant was attempting to leave the apartment complex, police apprehended Underwood and arrested him in connection with the killing, the prosecutor said.
During the trial, officers testified that when Underwood was arrested, his clothing was covered in blood, he was wearing a bloody glove, and he dropped two large bloody knives as officers approached.
The prosecution said that Johnson was killed because he informed Underwood’s wife that Underwood had an affair with Johnson’s girlfriend in December 2013.
Underwood’s wife initially told police that she had separated from him as a result, Kelley said. But she denied at trial that the disclosure had caused marital problems or that the two had separated, according to the prosecutor.
The case was investigated by the Long Beach Police Department.
