The teen who prosecutors said murdered two people during a carjacking at a Miami Gardens gas station because they "didn't look scared enough" has been found guilty.
Eric Ellington, 19, is charged with two counts of murder in the July 25, 2011 deaths of Julian Soler and Kennia Duran. A jury delivered a verdict of guilty on both counts Friday, just hours after closing argumenets were delivered.
Duran, 24, and Soler, 23, had stopped for gas at the Mobil Mart at Northwest 57th Avenue and 167th Street when they were approached by Ellington, Wayne Williams and Dylan McFarlane, police said.
Surveillance video captured the crime and showed a suspect, who police say is Ellington, drag Soler out of his Ford Mustang Cobra and shoot the man at point-blank range 11 times. That video was shown multiple times in court, making for some emotional moments
Williams shot Duran, and McFarlane was the driver of the getaway car, police said. Ellington and Williams were just 16 at the time of the crime. McFarlane was 18.
Ellington told detectives that he shot Soler because he "didn't look scared enough" during the carjacking, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said.
Police said the three teens went on a crime spree earlier and stole a Nissan Pathfinder and tried to rob a bank before going to the gas station.
While the state emphasized the surveillance video of the double homicide, the defense said that Ellington was not at the scene of the crime and the video was too grainy for a positive identification. Ellington had been with the other suspects in the stolen vehicle but went home, and when police nabbed him he was intimidated by them and wanted to protect his friends, according to the defense.
A sentencing date has not been set.
