MORRISTOWN, N.J. – Jurors found a New Jersey teenager guilty of murder for helping his older brother kill a 16-year-old neighbor and trying to dump her dismembered body into a river.
Thursday's verdict against James Zarate came after jurors deliberated for eight hours over two days.
The 18-year-old was 14 at the time of the slaying. He faces 30 years to life in prison when he's sentenced July 31.
His older brother, Jonathan, was found guilty in Jennifer Park's slaying last December and has been sentenced to life behind bars.
Prosecutors said the older Zarate beat, choked and stabbed Parks in 2005 and cut off her legs before putting the dismembered corpse in a trunk.
The brothers and another teen were spotted by a police officer trying to dump the trunk into the Passaic River.
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