An example of a handgun being aimed. Photo from Pixabay.
A man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to murdering a gas station clerk in Los Feliz and the owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in Mar Vista during robberies that occurred over a two-day span a year ago.
A grand jury indictment, handed up last month, charges Kayshon Moody, 26, with the Jan. 17, 2017, killing of M.D. Mizu Rahman, 34, who was shot to death Jan. 17 at a Chevron station in the 2100 block of North Vermont Avenue, along with the Jan. 18, 2017, shooting death of Ovik Oganesyan, 50, at a medical marijuana dispensary at 12480 W. Venice Blvd.
The murder charges include the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder during the commission of a robbery. Moody is also charged with three counts of second-degree robbery — two involving Rahman and Oganesyan and one involving a separate robbery on Jan. 17, 2017.
The grand jury indictment also charges a second man, James A. Eastland, 22, with Oganesyan’s murder, along with the special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a robbery.
Eastland — who is also charged with two counts of second-degree robbery involving Oganesyan and a separate robbery the same day — is not charged with the killing of Rahman, who lived in Los Angeles after coming to the United States from Bangladesh.
Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek the death penalty against the two men, who are due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Feb. 28 for a pretrial hearing.
Both defendants were arrested early last year and remain jailed without bail.
–City News Service
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