Jury convicts McAllister of first-degree inmate murder

James Russell McAllister, 42, was convicted July 18, of the first-degree murder of an inmate that occurred in 2019 while McAllister was serving a term at High Desert State Prison. He was also convicted of being an inmate in possession of a weapon. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 23.

McAllister has been in custody since 2001 when he was convicted in Riverside County and sentenced to 16.5 years in prison for attempted murder, robbery, second degree burglary, attempted carjacking and arson.

While serving that term, McAllister was subsequently convicted of attempting to threaten a public official and making criminal threats when he wrote a letter threatening to kill the Riverside County Deputy district attorney who prosecuted him in the attempted murder case.

In September 2019 he was convicted again of attempted murder, with the infliction of great bodily injury, of another inmate at HDSP and was sentenced to an additional 13 years.

In October 2019 he committed the first-degree murder, by stabbing with an inmate manufactured weapon, for which he was tried and found guilty and pending sentencing.

The case was tried by prison prosecutor Jordan Funk.

We thank the staff at HDSP for their investigation and assistance in the successful prosecution of this case. We also thank the jurors for their time and deliberation in this case, especially as this case was tried during a busy fair week.