GOLDEN — Anthony Lowe and Thomas Johns showed no emotion Thursday when a Jefferson County jury convicted them on all counts in the botched Burger King robbery last summer that ended in the death of cook Celia Meza.
The jury deliberated about four hours after receiving the case late Wednesday before reaching guilty verdicts on 14 charges against Lowe and 13 charges against Johns.
The counts include first-degree murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, assault and theft.
Both men face mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole. Sentencing is set for July 15, exactly one year after the murder.
Prosecutors charged that Lowe, then 21, forced Meza, 31, into the freezer and shot her in the back when she called 911.
Johns, who was 17, was equally responsible as the mastermind behind the robbery at West 64th Avenue and Ward Road in Arvada, they said.
“We’re satisfied,” prosecutor Sean Clifford said.
“They found what they found,” said Johns’ attorney, Kurt Metsger. Lowe’s attorney, Chris Braddock, declined to comment.
Prosecutors said four men — Lowe, Johns, Burger King night manager Anthony Cole and Lindell Mark Sample Jr. — concocted a plot to rob the fast-food restaurant.
Cole, 24, was the “inside man” and Sample, 18, drove the getaway car, they said. Lowe, Johns and Sample are former Burger King employees.
Cole agreed to testify against Lowe and Johns in exchange for dropping a first-degree murder charge that carries a life sentence for a 48-year prison sentence. Sample will go on trial June 24 on similar charges.
Lowe and Johns, dressed in black with ski masks, crawled through the drive-up window, prosecutors say, while Cole worked in the office.
After Meza was shot, Lowe and Johns fled, throwing clothes and a Tec-9 gun out the car window.
Lowe and Johns bought one-way Greyhound bus tickets to Florida with their share of the $1,800 taken in the robbery and were apprehended in Savannah, Ga.
Metsger and Braddock argued that Cole was the true mastermind, directing who should enter the restaurant and when, and misleading police.
Ann Schrader: 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com
