Pair Convicted of Murder in Retrial Over 1988 Slaying

Two reputed gang members from South-Central Los Angeles were convicted Friday of killing a 67-year-old Woodland Hills man three years ago during a break-in at his home.

After two weeks of deliberations in the retrial of Devin M. Feagin, 22, and Terrill Ross, 20, a Van Nuys Superior Court jury found both men guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Howard David King on April 29, 1988.

The first trial ended last year in a hung jury.

The jury also found the two men guilty of robbery, burglary and assault.

According to testimony in the three-month trial, Feagin robbed and shot King in the bedroom of his hillside home while Ross held the victim’s 68-year-old wife, Faye, at gunpoint on the kitchen floor.

The two defendants showed no reaction to the verdict.

Feagin could face the death penalty. Ross, who was a juvenile at the time of the incident, faces a sentence of 27 years to life in prison.

The penalty phase of the trial for Feagin, in which the jury of nine women and three men will decide whether to recommend the death penalty or life in prison to Judge Kathryne Ann Stoltz, is scheduled for April 22.

Neither defense attorneys nor prosecutors would comment after the verdict.

During the trial, the defendants were linked to the slaying through eyewitness testimony, fingerprints and shoe prints.

Jury deliberations began in early March but were interrupted when three jurors were dismissed for misconduct and replaced with alternates.

One of the jurors was dismissed for discussing the police beating of black motorist Rodney G. King.

The King beating occurred shortly before deliberations began and received widespread publicity.

The juror mentioned the beating case during deliberations as an example of how police are biased against blacks.

The juror and both defendants are black.

Stoltz ruled that the juror had improperly brought a preconceived bias against police to the deliberations and dismissed her.

At the time, defense attorneys asked for a mistrial and argued that the judge was removing the only juror who favored a not-guilty verdict.