An eastern Pennsylvania man has been convicted of first-degree murder and other charges for killing his father and grandmother.
A Berks County jury quickly returned the verdict Friday after the week-long trial of 36-year-old Johnny T. Branford.
Branford had been staying in the victims' Reading home before he was kicked out in December 2014 after an argument with his father, and had a protection-from-abuse order lodged against him.
Prosecutors say he returned Jan. 26, 2015 to stab 52-year-old Johnny M. Branford 30 times, then strangled 74-year-old Mary Branford so she couldn't report the first killing. Branford then took his grandmother's credit cards and went on a shopping spree before the bodies were discovered, then was arrested 10 days later.
Branford denied the killings, testifying, "That goes against my beliefs."
