Youth Convicted of Killing Ranch Couple
A Hanford teen-ager was convicted Tuesday of murdering a prominent Kings County ranch couple for a share of their son’s inheritance.
John Allen Cox, 19, was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder plus special circumstances in the slayings of Ray and Gayle Yocum on Dec. 20, 1983.
The special circumstances finding means that the jury must begin hearing evidence Tuesday on a sentence of death in the gas chamber or life in prison without possibility of parole.
Ray Yocum was shot repeatedly, and Mrs. Yocum died from a blast that blew off the top of her head.
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