By Bryan Schwartzman
A jury found Gary Johnson guilty Tuesday in the botched robbery and murder of Ira Epstein, who owned a check-cashing business in Corona, and off-duty Officer Charles Davis, who was moonlighting at his store in December 1996.
The jury reached its verdict after deliberating for less than two days in the two-week trial in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens.
Johnson, 25, of East Elmhurst was convicted of murder in the second degree, attempted robbery, burglary and criminal possession of a weapon.
He faces 50 years in prison when he is sentenced by Judge Arthur Cooperman on Jan. 3.
Johnson was the second of five defendants convicted in the 1996 murders of Epstein, the Douglaston owner of the check-cashing store at 94-21 Astoria Blvd., and Davis, who was from Jamaica.
Earlier this year George Bell was found guilty of murder in the first degree for shooting both men and faced the death penalty but received a life sentence without parole instead.
The prosecution portrayed Johnson as the mastermind of a premeditated plan to burglarize the Elmhurst store and eliminate the witnesses.
Assistant District Attorney Brad Leventhal contended Johnson was upset when Bell opened fire before Epstein unlocked the safe because the robbery could not be carried out as planned.
The defense tried to distance Johnson from the scene of the crime and attack the credibility of the prosecution
