Man, 38, Found Guilty of Two Murders

A jury convicted a hit man of first-degree murder Thursday for killing two witnesses who were about to testify against his friend.

Randall Bruce Williams, 38, was found guilty by a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury of the 1998 execution-style killings of James Navaroli, 36, and April Mahoney, 25.

The two were shot in front of their San Fernando Valley home, authorities alleged, to prevent their testimony against Williams’ friend, Kenneth Leighton, in a burglary case.

Williams and Leighton, 39, went to trial together in 2001, but with separate juries.

One jury couldn’t agree on a verdict on Williams. Leighton was convicted, but then granted a new trial after it was discovered that Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Duarte had altered a witness statement without notifying the defense.

Williams was retried and jurors returned the verdict after deliberating for a little more than two days.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler scheduled sentencing for June 24.

The penalty is life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Fidler sentenced Leighton, who was convicted in a March retrial, to two life terms without parole.

Williams and Leighton were suspected of robbing businesses in the Valley during the summer of 1997.

Figuring a burglary conviction would count as a third strike against him, meaning life in prison, police said, Leighton began intimidating Navaroli, who had been aware of the thefts.

“Don’t you know I can have you killed?” he reportedly asked Navaroli.

When that didn’t work, authorities said, he hired Williams to do just that. Navaroli died at the scene.

Mahoney, his girlfriend, lived long enough to name her killer: “Randy.”