Two young men were convicted Monday of first-degree murder for killings of a 19-year-old woman and a 17-year-old girl at a park in Montecito Heights nearly a decade ago.

The downtown Los Angeles jury deliberated about three hours before returning its verdict in the case of Jose Antonio Echeverria — who was 19 at the time of the crime and is now 28 — and Dallas Stone Pineda, who was 17 at the time of the crimes and is now 27.

Jurors had been ordered to resume their deliberations anew twice — most recently Monday morning when a juror was excused and replaced with an alternate.

Along with the murder charges stemming from the October 2015 killings of 19-year-old Gabriela Calzada and 17-year-old Briana Gallegos, jurors found true the special circumstance allegations of murder while lying in

See Full Page