Death penalty ordered for killer of two in Harbor Gateway - latimes.com

Death penalty ordered for killer of two in Harbor Gateway - latimes.com: "Los Angeles jury ordered the death penalty Monday for a 22-year-old Latino gang member convicted in the hate-crime killing of a 14-year-old black girl and the stabbing death of a potential witness in the Harbor Gateway area.

Jonathan Fajardo, who was 18 at the time of the killings, nonchalantly looked around the courtroom as the verdict was read. The jury found that he should receive death for his first-degree murder convictions for the slayings of Cheryl Green and Christopher Ash.

Fajardo was eligible for the death penalty because the jury accepted special circumstance allegations including multiple murder, killing a witness, committing a hate crime based on race and committing the crime for a gang. Fajardo was a member of the 204th Street gang, which prosecutors said intimidated and attacked African Americans in Harbor Gateway."

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