Former child actor guilty over horrific yacht double murder

A former child actor was found guilty by a California jury on Monday of murdering a retired couple who were tied to the anchor of their yacht and thrown overboard while still alive.

Skylar Deleon, 29, who had a bit part in an episode of 1990s series "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers", faces the death penalty after being convicted of three counts of murder at a trial in Santa Ana, south of Los Angeles.

Deleon was accused of killing retirees Tom and Jackie Hawks in 2004 in order to steal their 500,000-dollar boat and life savings. He was also accused of killing another man in 2003 in a separate incident.

The verdicts had been viewed as a foregone conclusion after defense lawyers acknowledged Deleon was guilty in opening statements, an unusual tactic designed to save him from the death penalty.

The jury will begin deliberations on Deleon's sentence on Wednesday.

During the trial, the court heard how Deleon and two other men, John F. Kennedy and Alonso Machain, had sailed out with the Hawks' from Newport Harbor in November 2004 for what the unsuspecting couple believed was a test run. Deleon and his cohorts had been posing as prospective buyers of the yacht.

However once out at sea, the three men overpowered the couple, handcuffing them and covering their eyes and mouths with duct tape before forcing them to sign and fingerprint title transfer documents for the yacht.

Machain, who testified for the prosecution, told how the terrified couple were then tied to the boat's anchor and lowered into the sea. Their bodies were never found. Machain and Kennedy face trials at a later date.

I expected it to be Jason for some reason.

I guess Skylar Deleon had a tiny part in the show.

In either case its amazing, in a bad way*

Man, Skylar is a crazy dude, he pulled a Lorena Bobbitt on himself while in his cell back in March. Its a crazy world we live in, its tragic all the way around!!

I heard about this. An ex Power Ranger killed some people.

I thought the Pink ranger was hot..

My daughter wants to be the pink power ranger.

I was joking^^^^^^^^

He wasn't even a power ranger, he just had a bit part in an episode.

And the original yellow ranger was hot!

SaberTooth Tiga!

go go power rangers....to jail!