Second man convicted in quadruple homicide

After the verdict was read, Young's mother attacked his attorney, striking him with her fists. Bailiffs had to tackle the woman to the ground and put her in handcuffs.

Young, 19, wasn't alleged to have been the triggerman, but prosecutors said he played a significant role in the well-orchestrated robbery.

Young is the second of three defendants to stand trial in the murders during a holdup, which garnered only a couple of hundred dollars, a VCR and a video game.

Each victim - Matthew Mowen, 19, Jeffrey Biddle, 19, Tracey Gorringe, 20, and Peter Talamantez, 17 - was killed with a bullet fired into the back of the head.

The home the victims were in was targeted on Aug. 14, 1998, because a fourth man, who has not been charged, believed there was $6,000 in cash and a quantity of drugs there, jurors were told.

"In the eyes of the law, the act of one is the act of all," Deputy District Attorney Robert Daskas told the jury Monday.

Defense attorneys contended that Young, who confessed his involvement to police after his arrest, participated only because of his fear of the gunman.

That alleged triggerman, Donte Johnson, 19, is scheduled to stand trial on Jan. 10. The third man, 19-year-old Sikia Smith, already has been convicted of first-degree murder for his role in ransacking the house and been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The jury in Young's case will begin deliberating Wednesday on whether he should be sentenced to death or life in prison with or without parole.

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