A Los Angeles jury convicted a marijuana dispensary proprietor and supervisor of homicide Monday within the killing of a 21-year-old faculty scholar who was an worker contained in the store.
Video recovered by police confirmed the dispensary’s supervisor, Ethan Kedar Astaphan, choking worker Juan Carlos Hernandez contained in the dispensary on the night time of Sept. 22, 2020. Weijia Peng, the dispensary proprietor, might be seen closing the again door of the store, then watching as Hernandez’s physique went nonetheless.
On Monday, a jury in Los Angeles County Superior Court docket convicted Astaphan and Peng of first-degree homicide.
Attorneys for Astaphan and Peng didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
A scholar at El Camino Faculty on the time, Hernandez labored on the dispensary, VIP Collective LA, for six months below the desk to assist pay for his tuition and canopy the price of doubtlessly transferring to USC. However the 21-year-old disappeared on Sept. 23, 2020, prompting a frantic search by his household that spanned most of Southern California.
Two months after his disappearance, police situated his physique buried within the Mojave Desert.
Jurors deliberated for lower than three hours Monday, the Los Angeles Each day Information reported.
The marijuana dispensary was situated within the 8100 block of Western Avenue; Hernandez had labored there for about six months earlier than his homicide.
In the course of the trial, prosecutors asserted that Peng and Astaphan suspected that Hernandez was stealing cash and marijuana from the dispensary, citing WhatsApp messages between the 2 defendants.
Then late on Sept. 22, 2020, prosecutors alleged, video confirmed Astaphan attacking Hernandez and Peng injecting the 21-year-old with a deadly dose of ketamine.
The 2 then took his physique to the desert. They have been arrested two months later, after regulation enforcement recovered deleted surveillance video from the dispensary exhibiting the assault.
A sentencing listening to has been scheduled for April 25, in line with court docket information.
