Nickolas Johnson pleads guilty to 2015 murder of Blue Lake man

EUREKA – A Eureka man pled guilty to a murder in Blue Lake, ending a two-year-old case.
Nickolas Johnson pled guilty to murdering David Dwayne Ganfield, Jr. in April of 2015. The District Attorney’s Office says Johnson and a man named Jonas Randall Semore repeatedly struck Ganfield in the head with a bat. Ganfield later died from his injuries. Semore was found guilty last year.
When investigators attempted to arrest Johnson in Eureka last January, he fired multiple shots from an assault rifle before being struck by returning gun fire. No officers were injured but the then 24-year-old faced additional charges when he was released from the hospital.
Tuesday at the Humboldt County Courthouse, Johnson pled guilty to second degree murder and admitted to using a firearm in the crime.
According to the plea agreement he will serve more than two decades in prison. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 19th.