Jurors convict men in double homicide

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- Two Kansas City men were found guilty late Thursday of killing a St. Joseph couple in their bedroom after breaking into their home looking for a previous tenant, a suspected drug dealer.

Jurors, who were brought to Buchanan County from Boone County, deliberated for eight hours before convicting Terrell Dawson, 25, and Javonty Steward, 23, of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts armed criminal action and one count each of kidnapping and first-degree burglary.

The bodies of the victims, Danny Watson Jr., 31, and Dawn Thornton, 28, were found in April 2004 as their children returned from an overnight stay with their grandparents.

Prosecutors said the defendants broke down a door at the St. Joseph home where the two victims had lived for about six weeks and shot them. Police believe the assailants were looking for a suspected drug dealer who supposedly owed one of them $800.

The kidnapping charge stemmed from accusations that the men ambushed a car containing two men and a woman in Kansas City.

Police said one of the men was brought to St. Joseph to commit a robbery.

While the men were in St. Joseph, police said the other man and the woman were taken to an abandoned house, where the woman was raped by 15 gang members over several hours.

Another defendant, Kenderal Rogers, a cousin of Steward, refused to testify against the men earlier this week. Ronald Holliday, an assistant Buchanan County prosecutor, told Rogers the plea agreement he had reached would be withdrawn and he would face first-degree murder charges.

In return for his testimony, Rogers was to have pleaded guilty to two second-degree murder charges, with the state recommending no more than 30 years on each count.

Rogers, Steward and Dawson also face charges in Jackson County in connection with the alleged kidnapping.

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Information from: St. Joseph News-Press, http://www.stjoenews-press.com