Local News in Brief : Jury Urges Life Term, No Parole for Murders
A21-year-old Pacoima man should be sentenced to life without parole for killing a rival gang member and later a transient, a San Fernando Superior Court jury said Tuesday.
Javier Omar Cano remained expressionless as the recommendation was read after two days of deliberations. The jury, which convicted Cano on Jan. 13 of two counts of murder, could have recommended the death penalty.
San Fernando Superior Court Judge John H. Major is scheduled to sentence Cano on Feb. 29.
Cano was found guilty of using 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 a rival gang.
Cano was also convicted of killing Woodrow Nourse, a 36-year-old transient, on July 13, 1986, in Roger Jessup Recreation Center on Osborne Street in Pacoima.
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