Cold Case: Killer Gets Life for Murdering Long Beach Pizza Deliveryman

A man already serving a life term for a Colorado triple murder was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing a pizza delivery driver in Long Beach during an attempted robbery two decades ago, and his accomplice was given a 25-year-to-life term.

James Lemon and Venda Johnson Jr. were both convicted of first-degree murder for the Nov. 22, 1995, killing of Renato Teniente. Jurors also found true a special circumstance allegation of murder in the commission of an attempted robbery.

The 60-year-old victim had just delivered a pizza to an apartment in the 2600 block of East 55th Way and was attacked while sitting in the driver’s seat of his vehicle. The car was parked at a curb and the engine was still running when he was found.

The case went unsolved until Long Beach police reopened the investigation in 2012, leading to the arrests last year of Lemon and Johnson.

Johnson, 35, was serving a life prison sentence at Buena Vista State Prison in Colorado for a triple killing, and Lemon, 36, was arrested in Las Vegas.

They did not face the death penalty for the Long Beach killing because they were both 17 at the time of the crime.

• City News Service

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