Jury Recommends Life Term for Murderer
PALMDALE — A jury has recommended life in prison without parole for one of two men convicted in the stabbing deaths of two Antelope Valley teen-agers.
Jose Angel Orona, 22, of Palmdale, was found guilty last month of first-degree murder and conspiracy for the 1992 deaths of David Benjamin Scott of Llano and Daniel Joseph Kufeldt of Palmdale.
Orona will be formally sentenced in Los Angeles Superior Court on Sept. 28.
The fate of Joe Orcasitas, 21, of Littlerock, who was convicted of the same crimes, will be determined by the same jury, which is deciding between life without parole and the death penalty, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron L. Smalstig.
The bodies of Scott, 14, and Kufeldt, 15, were found on a rural road near Llano in June, 1992, about a month after the boys had run away from home, Smalstig said. They were both fatally stabbed.
Smalstig said the men killed Scott in retaliation for stealing a ring belonging to Orona. Kufeldt was killed because he witnessed Scott’s murder, Smalstig said.
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