Deputy Sheriff Earl Griffith

Earl Griffith

Deputy Griffith was shot and killed when he and his partner stopped to investigate a parked car on the Purdy Highway, just over the California - Nevada border.

The deputies were investigating the incident after a series of robberies. Deputy Griffith was shot when he ordered one of the juveniles out the car while his partner searched the second juvenile. His partner was also wounded in the shootout. The two suspects then fled the scene but were apprehended a short time later.

The suspect who killed Deputy Griffith was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in Folsom Prison. On October 11, 1949, he stabbed a fellow inmate to death. He was convicted of first degree murder and executed in the gas chamber on Febuary 8, 1957.