DECATUR, Ga. – A DeKalb County jury found a day laborer guilty of fatally shooting one man and injuring another in 1996.
Juan Cortez Mondragon, 44, was convicted of malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault charges for the Aug. 8, 1996 shooting death of fellow day laborer Carolos Perez.
Perez, 29, was shot three times at an apartment off Shallowford Road, outside Atlanta. Mondragon shot a second man twice.
Mondragon then fled to Texas and changed his name. But in 2014, he was arrested on driving while intoxicated charges, and police fingerprinting revealed that he was wanted on murder charges in DeKalb County.
The surviving victim and a man who drove Mondragon to the scene of the shooting both testified for the prosecution in the trial.
After closing statements, a jury deliberated for over 2 hours before delivering guilty verdicts on all counts.