Indian American Malav Desai was killed in May 2015.
A teenager has been convicted of shooting and killing an Indian American store clerk during a robbery in May 2015, the St. Augustine Record reported.
Circuit Court Judge Howard Maltz of St. Johns County Court read the verdict on Thursday that convicted 17-year old Sergio Morgan- Wideman for first-degree murder.
Morgan-Wideman killed 29-year-old Malav Desai at Tobacco and Beverage Express in St. Augustine. The then 15-year-old assailant was arrested on May 19, 2015.
Judges heard from more than 20 witnesses and watched a surveillance video of the incident. The jury also found the teen guilty of robbery with a firearm and two counts of aggravated assault, the website reported.
Lead counsel Rosemarie Peoples told jurors during her closing argument of the three-day trial that the state hadn’t met its burden of proof for murder and pointed out that no crime scene technicians or analysts were able to find any of Morgan-Wideman’s DNA there.
Assistant State Attorney Mark Johnson called the shooting “senseless” and furnished evidence for the teen’s involvement in the crime.
“Malav Desai did not fight him, he did not argue with him, he did not resist in any way,” The St. Augustine Record quoted Johnson. “Malav Desai did exactly, exactly what this defendant ask of him, he did exactly what this defendant demanded of him. He gave him all the money from the cash register.”
The trail of 18-year-old Andre Jerome Robinson Jr., who was seen driving the sports utility vehicle in which Morgan-Wideman escaped after the crime, is scheduled to begin in May and he also faces one count each of first-degree murder and robbery.
Morgan-Wideman could face life in prison, but because of his age, would be eligible for a review after 25 years. His sentencing is scheduled for May.