SOLEDAD — Salinas Valley State Prison inmate Lawrence Adams, 45, was convicted by a jury on June 26 of first-degree murder, assault by a life prisoner and custodial possession of a weapon.
Judge Stephanie E. Hulsey presided over the four-day trial.
On Oct. 5, 2022, Adams stabbed fellow inmate Robert Tunstall more than 15 times in the yard at Salinas Valley State Prison using an inmate-manufactured weapon, according to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office in a news release. Tunstall died within minutes of the attack.
The jury also found true allegations that Adams has prior convictions for carjacking and assault with a deadly weapon in Yolo County in 2000, criminal threats in San Joaquin County in 2001, and arson in Tuolumne County in 2007, all of which qualify as “strike” offenses within the meaning of California’s Three Strikes Law.
Adams faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
