Local News in Brief : Man Guilty in 2 Slayings
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A reputed Los Angeles gang member was convicted Monday of the first-degree murder of a rival gang member and the second-degree murder of a man who had uttered an insult.
Warren Esqueda, 18, said to be a member of the Tiny Locos branch of the 18th Street Gang, is scheduled to be sentenced April 25 and faces up to 42 years to life in state prison.
Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner said Esqueda is the seventh member of the Tiny Locos to be convicted of murder in the past two years.
Esqueda was convicted by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury of first-degree murder for the April 6, 1986, fatal shooting of Harry Lopez.
Prosecutors said Lopez was killed in retaliation for the non-fatal stabbing minutes earlier of a Tiny Locos member, even though there was no proof that Lopez had anything to do with the stabbing.
Esqueda was convicted of second-degree murder in the May 27, 1986, shooting death of Paulino Hernandez at 52nd Street and Broadway. Prosecutors said Hernandez was killed apparently because he had insulted the sister of a Tiny Locos member.
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