Ex-convict convicted in fatal shootings of 2 California women in 2016 near Las Vegas Strip

LAS VEGAS (AP) — An ex-convict has been convicted of fatally shooting two Northern California women near the Las Vegas Strip more than seven years ago.

Omar Talley, 38, had been on trial for nearly two weeks before a jury returned a guilty verdict in the double homicide case Tuesday afternoon, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The newspaper said deliberations began Monday morning.

Talley was convicted on two counts of murder with a deadly weapon and one count of attempted murder and could face sentencing in January.

He was accused of killing Melissa Yvette Mendoza and Jennifer Margarita Chicas — both 27 — and wounding Chicas’ brother-in-law, Jerraud Jackson, in February 2016. Relatives said the victims were in Las Vegas for a family celebration. Jackson survived the shooting and testified against Talley.

According to the Review-Journal, Talley showed little emotion as the verdict was read Tuesday. He initially faced the death penalty in the case.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said the victims were in a parking garage west of the Strip when an argument broke out with Talley and shots were fired. Chicas and Mendoza, both from the San Francisco Bay area, died from gunshot wounds to the chest, authorities said.

Talley told police he had been drinking and smoking marijuana on the night of the shootings and remembered little of what happened, according to an arrest report.

Court records show Talley was paroled in 2015 after being sentenced to a Nevada prison for felony pandering of a child and child abuse convictions in 2010.