An East County jury recommended death for the man convicted of killing two people execution style at a liquor store in El Cajon.
Last October, Jean Pierre Rices pleaded guilty to killing Heather Mattia, 22, and Firas Eiso, 23, at the Granada Liquor Store on Broadway.
The murders happened during a robbery in March of 2006. Two men entered the store and emptied the cash register before shooting both victims in the back of the head.
"You think there's not a day that we don't cry?" Mattia's sister Evelyn said. "Not a day we don't shed a tear for her."
Evelyn Mattia said her family had been hoping the jury would recommend death instead of life without parole. "Why should he live 80 to 90 years?"
Defense attorney Mark Chambers told jurors that Rices didn't deserve the death penalty because he had a rough childhood that included a drug addicted mother who was also a prostitute.
"I was hoping the jury would recommend life without the possibility of parole, I thought it was more appropriate," Chambers said.
As the verdict was read, Rices showed no emotion. Evelyn Mattia wiped tears from her eyes before walking outside the courtroom.
She said she had no compassion for a man who took away her only sister.
"Do I get to see her get married, do I get to see her have kids? No."
