Everybody keep Collen Feeney and her family in their prayers. She lost her daughter last Wednesday. Collen retired from CCC.

Inmate eligible for death penalty

By The Record

November 17, 2010 12:00 AM

STOCKTON - A man charged with murdering his cell mate at Tracy's Deuel Vocational Institution in June finally made his first court appearance Tuesday.

Because John Joseph Lydon, 37, had been convicted of killing a previous cell mate, he is eligible for a death sentence if convicted.

Lydon did not enter a plea Tuesday, and his case was continued to next month.

He is accused of killing Jonathan Guy Alexander, 49, a convicted child molester, while serving time at DVI for previously murdering a convicted child molester in a cell at another California state prison.

In court Tuesday, he appeared before San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Franklin Stephenson, who read Lydon the new murder charge levied against him and his previous murder, robbery and burglary convictions dating back to 1994.

Stephenson told Lydon that Superior Court Judge Terrence Van Oss has been assigned to handle the case. San Joaquin County Deputy Public Defender Michael Bullard is expected to defend Lydon.

Prosecutors have not yet announced if they will seek a death sentence.