Ethan Kedar Astaphan and Weijia Peng have been discovered responsible of first diploma homicide within the homicide of Juan Hernandez, within the press. (Photograph from the Assist Me Discover Juan household web site)
The proprietor and supervisor of an unlicensed California Marijuana sellers have been convicted of murdering their fellow school pupil with an injection of ketamine and dumping his physique within the desert as a result of they thought he stole cash and pot.
Ethan Kedar Astaphan, 30, and Weijia “James” Peng, 34, have been discovered responsible in a Los Angeles court docket of first diploma. assassination within the homicide of Juan Carlos Hernandez, whose physique was found in a shallow grave close to Barstow, California, in 2020.
“I'm unhappy that my son just isn’t coming again,” Hernandez mentioned outdoors after court docket Los Angeles Day by day Information reported “I'm glad they have been caught, and they’re going to pay for what they did. Now we simply have to know what's subsequent and learn how to heal.”
Astaphan's legal professional, Larson Hahm, argued for a second-degree homicide conviction, saying the killing was not premeditated, the Los Angeles Day by day Information reported.
Astaphan, the supervisor of the unlicensed and now dismantled VIP collective, and Peng, the proprietor, killed Hernandez on September 22, 2020, taking him to the dispensary and injecting him with a deadly dose of ketamine earlier than driving him to the desert, lengthy with Peng's girlfriend Sonita Heng, 23, and flashing her physique.
Citing the texts, prosecutors mentioned that the defendants first suspected that an worker had stolen earlier than singling Hernandez after which needed to make an instance of him. Peng needed Hernandez “crippled for all times,” based on the Day by day Information, the report particulars revealed throughout opening statements.
Hernandez's household reported him lacking after he didn't come dwelling from work. His automobile was discovered deserted greater than 28 hours later, just a few kilometers from the place he labored.
I do know physique was discovered on Nov. 15 in a shallow ditch off Interstate 15 in a distant space north of Barstow, about 140 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.
Days later, Astaphan and Heng have been arrested Peng fled to Turkey, the place he was arrested and extradited to LA in 2022.
Astaphan and Peng have been sentenced on April 25. Heng took a plea deal for 112 days in county jail after being charged with one depend of accent after the very fact, the LA Day by day Information reported. Heng's sentencing is scheduled for March 7.
Supply – Regulation & Crime
Marijuana dispensary proprietor and supervisor convicted of killing fellow school pupil by injecting ketamine, dumping physique in desert
