Man Convicted In Dearborn Family Dollar Double Murder
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - A 35-year-old man has been convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of two 20-year-old workers at a Dearborn dollar store.
The jury reached a verdict on Monday in the case of Lavere Bryant in Wayne County Circuit Court in Detroit.
The Dearborn man faces a mandatory term of life in prison without parole when sentenced for the deaths of Joseph Orlando and Brenna Machus.
Surveillance video showed a suspect enter the Family Dollar on Michigan Ave. on the night of July 15, 2013, and leave later with Machus. A co-worker found Orlando's body in the store the next day. Machus' body was found two days later in field near the Southfield Freeway about a mile away from the store.
Michigan State Police forensic scientist Andrea Young testified in October that DNA found on a shopping cart, towels, and in Bryant's car links him to the victims.
During the trial, Bryant — who is a convicted sex offender — said he didn't commit the crime.
Wayne County Judge Qiana Lillard will sentence him on Dec. 11 at 9 a.m.
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