CNS - A state appellate court panel today upheld a gang member’s conviction for the shooting death of a 14-year-old boy outside a neighborhood carnival in Jefferson Park nearly two years ago.

The three-justice panel from the 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected Jason Robert Walton’s claims that errors were made in his trial and that there was insufficient evidence to establish premeditation.

Walton was convicted in August 2006 of first-degree murder for the Nov. 13, 2005, slaying of William Cox, along with the attempted murder of the boy’s 14-year-old friend.

In a 23-page ruling, the appellate court panel noted that the gunshots struck both Cox and his friend.

“Firing multiple shots without warning, followed by escape from the scene, is consistent with first-degree murder,” Associate Justice Sandy R. Kriegler wrote on behalf of the panel. “Both victims were shot in the torso from relatively close range, a method of killing sufficiently particular and exacting to permit the inference of a preconceived design”

During the trial, Cox’s friend testified that he had a previous run-in with the gunman.

Walton is serving a 50-year-to-life term in state prison.

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