LOS FELIZ—On Friday, June 19, a state appeals court panel upheld Kayshon Moody’s conviction for two 2017 murders, as reported by the City News Service.

Moody, a Los Angeles resident, was found guilty of fatally shooting M.D. Mizu Rahman, 34, at a Chevron gas station on North Vermont Ave. He also shot and killed Ovik Oganesyan, 50, at a medical marijuana dispensary on W. Venice Blvd. in Mar Vista the following day. Moody was charged with first-degree murder.

Both incidents were recorded, and the panel noted that “the videos clearly showed Moody committing robberies and murders.” Neither victim struggled against Moody, and court justices claim that no evidence provided proved that he shot in a panic. “The evidence showed premeditation as well,” the court ruling added. “His arrival at the crime scenes, armed with a loaded gun suggested pre-planning.”

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office previously decided that Moody would not face the death penalty. He was instead sentenced on February 1, 2019 to 2 life sentences in prison without parole.

Moody was also convicted of 3 counts of second-degree robbery; the murder victims were involved in these charges, as well as a fast-food restaurant in a separate robbery that took place before Rahman was shot.

James A. Eastland, who was charged alongside Moody for killing Oganesyan, pled guilty to murder and robbery charges stemming from the victim’s death and a separate robbery. He testified for the prosecution during Moody’s trial and was sentenced to 40 years’ to life imprisonment in September 2019.

“You stripped the love of my life away from me. You deliberately, intentionally and without remorse decided that he should no longer live. You decided that he should no longer take another breath, that he should no longer be able to go home to his wife and children, to speak to his siblings and friends. You decided that he should not be able to fulfill any plans he had for the long life he had left to live,” Armik Iskandaryan, Oganesyan’s widow, wrote in a statement addressed to Moody. “You had no right. Your despicable actions have brought a wave of unending grief and anguish into our family. It has brought upon more hardships and pain than you will ever know.”