GLENDALE : 2 Men Convicted in Strangulation

Two men were found guilty Wednesday of killing a 26-year-old man and dumping his body at a Glendale park last July, officials said.

Los Angeles residents Milton Estuardo Medina, 25, and Carlos Herminio Escobar, 28, were each convicted of a first-degree murder count after an eight-man, four-woman jury deliberated for six hours, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Dennis Lockfield.

“We presented a very strong case,” Lockfield said. “There wasn’t a lot of dispute in this case.”

Medina’s court-appointed attorney and Escobar’s public defender couldn’t be reached for comment.

Pasadena Superior Court Judge Terry Smerling set sentencing for Aug. 19. Lockfield expects that both men will be sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison.

During the two-week trial that ended Tuesday, the two were accused of taking part in the July 10, 1992, strangulation of Javier Ernesto Luna, 26, of Los Angeles. An arrest warrant has been issued for a third man, Romeo Enrique Aguilar, 26, who is believed to have fled to Guatemala, Lockfield said.

The prosecutor told jurors that Luna was killed because the defendants thought he knew who had stolen speakers from Medina’s truck.

Luna’s two friends and a security guard told jurors that they saw the defendants and Aguilar kidnap the victim outside the Nuevo Salvadoran Restaurant in Hollywood. Based on a deputy coroner’s testimony, prosecutors showed Luna was strangled, possibly with rubber weatherstripping. The murder weapon has yet to be recovered.