Local News in Brief : Pacoima Man Found Guilty of 2 Murders

A San Fernando Superior Court jury on Wednesday convicted a Pacoima man of killing a rival gang member and later a transient.

Javier Omar Cano, 21, was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. He could be sentenced to death or life in prison without the possibility of parole. The penalty phase of his trial is scheduled for Jan. 25.

During the 12-week trial, presided over by Judge John H. Major, eyewitnesses testified that Cano used a .22-caliber sawed-off rifle July 11, 1986, to kill Joe Venegas, 19, in front of a mini-market on Laurel Canyon Boulevard at Osborne Street in Pacoima. Authorities said Cano and Venegas were members of rival gangs.

There were no eyewitnesses to the July 13, 1986, killing of Woodrow Nourse, a 36-year-old transient, in Roger Jessup Recreation Center on Osborne Street in Pacoima. But the same weapon used to kill Venegas was used to shoot Nourse seven times, authorities said. One of Cano’s fellow gang members testified that Cano said he shot Nourse.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Cesar C. Sarmiento said there was no apparent motive for Nourse’s murder other than “the joy of killing.” Deputy Public Defender Paul Enright argued that there was reasonable doubt that Cano had shot Nourse.

Cano has been in County Jail since he was arrested July 14, 1986.