San Quentin Death Row Inmate Johnny Mungia Dies At Outside Hospital

SAN QUENTIN (CBS SF) -- Johnny Mungia, a convicted killer on Death Row at San Quentin State Prison for more than two decades, died Tuesday morning at an outside hospital, corrections officials said Tuesday.

Mungia, 64, was convicted in the brutal beating death of 73-year-old Alma Franklin in Riverside County and was sentenced to death in 1997.

Franklin lived next-door to Mungia's sister and court documents show Mungia killed Franklin during a home robbery.

An autopsy on Franklin's body determined she had been struck 23 times in the head and face with a blunt object, with the pathologist in the case saying her injuries were some of the most brutal he had ever seen, according to court documents.

An official cause of Mungia's death was pending autopsy results, but foul play is not suspected, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, there have been 29 deaths of inmates at San Quentin from COVID - the most among all state prisons - including a number of Death Row inmates.

There are currently 705 people on California's death row, the CDCR said. Governor Gavin Newsom has placed a moratorium on any executions in the state.