Citizen Kill's 2 in Drive-by
CitizensGone Crazy
LOS ANGELES -- A 16-year-old reputed gang member was convicted Thursday
of murdering two teenagers in a drive-by shooting last fall in South Los
Angeles.
A Superior Court jury deliberated less than a day before convicting
Jaylin Underwood of first-degree murder in the deaths of Demario Moore,
13, and Quinesha Dunford, 15, prosecutor Alan Schneider said.
He also was convicted of the attempted murder of another person.
Underwood, who was tried as an adult, faces a possible life term in
prison when he is sentenced Aug. 4.
Schneider said Underwood and two other men, who are awaiting trial, went
into the territory of a rival gang on Sept. 10 and Underwood opened fire
from a car window on a group of people standing on the sidewalk.
The two people killed were not gang members, the prosecutor said.
Defense attorney Murray Meyer argued that Underwood wasn't involved with
the killings.
"It was a tragedy, two young lives lost, murdered ... But Jaylin
Underwood did not do it," he told jurors in his opening statement.
Labertha Govan, Dunford's great-aunt, said the verdict brought her "a
little comfort."
"It hasn't brought the closure yet," Govan said.
