Rural SLO County Murder Suspect Appears in Court

23-year-old John Steven Danner is charged with murder along with the special allegations of using a gun and shooting a gun causing great bodily injury or death.

The judge allowed news cameras in the courtroom for Danner’s scheduled arraignment Thursday morning but she did allow the recording and use of sound from the proceeding.

Handcuffed at the hands and feet, Danner told the judge he understood the charges against him and requested the services of a public defender.

Central Coast News has learned Danner lived at a home on Klau Mine Road in a remote and rural area west of Paso Robles with his mother and her boyfriend who is the victim in this case, identified as 47-year-old Billy Don Law.

Investigators believe Law was shot and killed in the home after a violent argument with Danner early last Friday morning.

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department says Danner was arrested at Twin Cities Hospital after taking his mom to the Emergency Room with a gunshot wound following the deadly shooting at the home on Klau Mine Road.

The County Sheriff’s Department says Danner told investigators he was trying to protect his mother at the time of the shooting.

Danner did not enter a plea to the charges against him and will return to San Luis Obispo County Court next week.

He’s being held in San Luis Obispo County jail with no bail allowed.