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                <p>NEWARK, N.J. – A 20-year-old man was convicted Tuesday of murder in the execution-style slayings of three college-bound friends in a Newark schoolyard in 2007, an incident that jolted New Jersey's largest city into implementing a wave of anti-crime measures.</p>
                <p>Alexander Alfaro was one of six men and boys charged in the gruesome attacks in August 2007. All three victims were shot in the back of the head as they knelt in front of a wall, and one was slashed with a machete. A fourth victim was slashed and shot but survived and testified against Alfaro.</p>
                <p>Alfaro was found guilty on 16 of 17 counts that included murder, felony murder, robbery and conspiracy. He was found not guilty of attempted murder on the survivor of the attacks.</p>
                <p>As the verdicts were read, about a dozen of the victims' family members hugged and wept softly in the gallery. They had spent five weeks in court for Alfaro's trial, a year after attending the trial of Alfaro's half-brother, Rodolfo Godinez, who was convicted and is serving three consecutive life sentences. Three more cases are pending.</p>
                <p>"This was absolutely draining for all of us," said James Harvey, whose son Dashon was killed in the attack. "It's hard. It's going to be hard going through the next three, but (being here) is not even a decision we have to make."</p>
                <p>Harvey, Iofemi Hightower and Terrance "T.J." Aeriel were friends from Newark who were already attending or planning to attend Delaware State University in the fall.</p>
                <p>The jury reached its verdict after about 20 hours of deliberations over four days. As jurors filed out of court, several nodded toward family members in the gallery.</p>
                <p>"I was in seventh heaven when the verdict came," said Shalga Hightower, Iofemi's mother. "I wanted it so badly for her, knowing that this one was the one that did that to her."</p>
                <p>Alfaro admitted to police after his capture that he slashed Hightower with the machete before she and the others were shot. But on the witness stand, he denied doing it and said he was pressured by a detective to change his statement to conform to what other defendants had already told police.</p>
                <p>The jury rejected the defense's argument that Alfaro acted under duress from Godinez, a high-ranking member of the MS-13 street gang. Alfaro testified that he was coerced into bringing the machete to the Mount Vernon School playground on the night of Aug. 4, 2007 by Godinez. Alfaro admitted joining the gang several months before the crimes, but testified he was shocked that night when he realized what was happening.</p>
                <p>"There were plenty of chances for Mr. Alfaro not to get involved that night," Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Thomas McTigue said after the verdict. "It didn't require heroism, just a little bit of morality."</p>
                <p>Jurors also heard testimony from the survivor and from Alfaro's cousin, Nancy Ramirez, who testified that Alfaro described the incident to her the following day.</p>
                <p>A controversy earlier Tuesday nearly caused a mistrial. Prosecutors revealed that a female juror didn't acknowledge in a questionnaire before the trial started that she had a criminal case pending.</p>
                <p>Alfaro's attorney moved for a mistrial but was denied by the judge. Less than an hour later, jurors reached the verdict.</p>
                <p>The slayings made national headlines and spurred action on numerous anti-crime measures in Newark, such as surveillance cameras in high-crime neighborhoods. The city's violent crime and shooting rate fell markedly between 2007 and 2009, but has crept back upward in the last 18 months.</p>
                <p>Alfaro's murder and felony murder counts each carry a sentence of 30 years to life in prison. The robbery counts have a 20-year maximum sentence, and the weapons counts range from 18 months to 10 years. Several of the counts will be merged for sentencing purposes, but Alfaro is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.</p>
                <p>In the two previous cases, state Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin sentenced the defendants to three consecutive life sentences for the murders.</p>
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