Local News in Brief : Pacoima Man Gets Life Term After Killing 2
A21-year-old Pacoima man was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing a rival gang member and later a transient.
San Fernando Superior Court Judge John H. Major imposed the sentence on Javier Omar Cano after Irma Martinez, the mother of 19-year-old Joe Venegas, one of Cano’s victims, testified that she wanted Major to impose the maximum sentence possible.
Major could have imposed a lighter sentence but followed the recommendation of the jury, which said Jan. 26 that Cano should be sentenced to life in prison without parole instead of the death penalty.
Cano was convicted Jan. 13 of using a .22-caliber, sawed-off rifle July 11, 1986, to kill Venegas in front of a mini-mart on Laurel Canyon Blvd. at Osborne Street in Pacoima.
Authorities said Cano and Venegas were members of rival gangs. Cano was also convicted of killing Woodrow Nourse, a 36-year-old transient, July 13, 1986, in Roger Jessup Recreation Center on Osborne Street in Pacoima.
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