A 53-year-old man was sentenced Thursday to 46 years to life in prison for fatally stabbing a resident of a sober living facility in an unincorporated area between Anaheim and Stanton over a dispute about a pickup truck.
Effrum Maland Burnett was convicted June 4 of second-degree murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a knife. He was convicted of killing 50-year-old Toye Mims Jones on July 18, 2023.
Because of Burnett's criminal history, his punishment was tripled, while he was given credit for 373 days in jail.
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The victim's mother, Antoinette Washington, told Orange County Superior Court Judge Sheila Hanson her son had a long struggle with his addictions.
"We tried to help him for years, but he was not ready to let that devil loose," Washington said.
In February of last year, she received a call from her son, who she hadn't heard from in months.
"He said, `Ma, I want to go to church with you,"' she said. "He started going to church with me."
After a service, a congregant he didn't know exuberantly told him that God had a plan for him, according to Washington. Jones later confessed to his mother that kicking drugs was difficult for him.
Washington said she told her son, "It's hard, but you can do it. You have family, and we love you."
She added that Jones was doing well and going to classes.
Washington recalled the last time she spent with her son was a delayed birthday party for him in June. She held up a photo of the party to the judge.
"This is the last picture I have of Toye," she said. "We had so much fun, so much laughter ... My son had a good heart."
Washington blamed the incident on a "street hustler," who lied that the victim attacked her to get Burnett to help her get a pickup truck from the victim.
"Why would you believe the things she told you when you didn't know him?" Washington said. "He murdered my son for a lie."
The victim's son, Anthony Lopez, said the family was optimistic that Jones was ready to get sober for good.
"We thought things were finally ready to click," he said. "This really sucks because we'll never know now."
Burnett's wife, Emily, and his attorney, Lee Stonum of the Alternate Defender's Office, told Hanson that the defendant has been medicated while in custody to a level that makes it difficult for him to talk and move around.
"My life was completely changed," Burnett told Hanson, as he cried and mumbled through his statement. "Forgive me for what I've done."
Stonum noted that after the defendant's arrest, he made the best statement of how he felt about the stabbing.
"The best indication of how this impacted him was how much remorse he had and the statements he made after he was arrested," he said.
When Stonum would meet with the defendant before he was medicated, "That remorse continued."
Stonum asked Hanson to use her discretion to not count the prior convictions against his client because they "are very old."
Senior Deputy District Attorney Dave Porter said the prior strikes were "serious and violent" and involved kidnapping and robbery. Porter also said when the defendant pleaded guilty in 2018 to residential burglary, his prior convictions were not counted against him because he was allowed to participate in a "Whatever It Takes" program for addicts. If the prior convictions were held against him in 2018, then the killing wouldn't have happened, Porter argued.
Hanson said she considered the defendant's difficult upbringing, which included drinking and smoking marijuana at the age of 8 and methamphetamine at 12.
"The description of your childhood and a life of addiction is one of the most troubling I've heard and, unfortunately, it's not unique," Hanson said.
The judged noted the defendant grew up watching his grandparents being abusive toward each other and that he was abused by an uncle. He was also diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in 2015, Hanson said.
But even though Burnett's convictions were from 30 years ago, they involved two separate victims, she said. And she noted a long list of other convictions over the past 10 years.
Hanson said the defendant could have left the area after the first conflict with the victim, but he remained there, and it led to the deadly battle when the two tussled again.
"You didn't have to be there," she said. "You could have left. You made the decision to use a knife in a fist fight."
The victim was residing at a sober living house at 9581 Canton Ave., near Katella Avenue and Gilbert Street, when Bryon Martinez, Christina Roberts and Burnett went to retrieve a Ram pickup that Roberts claimed was stolen from her by Jones, Porter said.
Roberts also falsely claimed Jones and his roommate had kidnapped, drugged and raped her at the sober living facility, and she was sent away without the truck, Porter said.
Burnett parked his 2009 Hyundai Elantra in front of the pickup to jump start it when Jones came out and confronted Roberts, Porter said.
A fight broke out, with Jones then going back into the house, but a few minutes later he came back out and the fight resumed, leading to the victim being stabbed, the prosecutor said.
The victim, who sustained five stab wounds, was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The autopsy report showed Jones had methamphetamine at three times the normal level of a fatality, as well as PCP, in his system, Stonum said.
PCP can boost aggressiveness, strength and "resistance to pain," Stonum said.
Burnett's wife said her husband was a journeyman in his union and worked on major projects like the rail line in Los Angeles.
Burnett's longtime friend, Ken Cheatham, said he met the defendant through a sober living home 20 years ago.
Burnett is a "kind, fun loving man," who worked hard on his sobriety, Cheatham said.
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