Updated 4:45 PM PDT, Thu, Jul 23, 2009
NBC Los Angeles

A gang member previously convicted of two murders was found guilty Thursday of the January 2002 shooting death of a drug dealer at a South Los Angeles crack house.

The Los Angeles Superior Court jury convicted Anthony Dent, 36, of first-degree murder in the Jan. 27, 2002, slaying of 49-year-old Vincent Williams.

Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder while lying in wait and murder to further the activities of a criminal street gang, which make Dent eligible for a death sentence.

The panel is due back in court next Monday to hear about another special circumstance allegation — this one alleging that he was convicted in April 2004 of two other murders.

Jurors have already heard about one of those murders — the Jan. 10, 2002, shooting death of Ricardo Frazier, who was shot in the head with the same gun used in Williams’ killing.

Deputy District Attorneys Michele Hanisee and Mark Inaba alleged that Williams and Frazier were killed for not paying taxes on drug sales in the territory belonging to Dent’s gang.

Once jurors deal with the remaining special circumstance allegation, the trial’s penalty phase will get under way. The panel will be asked to recommend whether Dent should be sentenced to death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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