Gang Member Rodolfo Godinez Convicted of Brutal Newark Schoolyard Murders

(May 24) -- A 26-year-old gang member was convicted today for the brutal execution-style murders of three people at a New Jersey elementary school playground.

Rodolfo Godinez, a member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, faces life behind bars after a State Superior Court jury in Newark returned a guilty verdict on a wide range of charges that included murder, attempted murder, robbery and conspiracy.

The killings took place the night of Aug. 4, 2007, when four friends met at Mount Vernon elementary school in Newark to socialize.

Prosecutors argued that Godinez, along with five other defendants, set upon the group with machetes and guns, hacking at the victims before lining them up against a wall and shooting each one at point-blank range.

Mother of Iofemi Hightower reacts to Godinez verdict

One of the victims, then-19-year-old Natasha Aeriel, survived the attack, in which members of the gang sexually molested her, shot her and cut her with with a machete. Now deaf in one ear, and suffering partial facial paralysis, Aerial testified at the trial, The New York Times reported. Aeriel's younger brother, Terrance Aeriel, 18; her best friend, Iofemi Hightower, 20; and another friend, Dashon Harvey, 20, were all killed.

The jury, which was made up of four men and eight women, needed only three hours' deliberation to reach their verdict.

Lawyers for Godinez say they plan to appeal and contended that their client was an innocent bystander who did not participate in the killings.

Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, is a gang primarily made up of Central American immigrants.

"Justice is done for my angel and her friends," Shalga Hightower, the mother of Iofemi Hightower, told the Newark Star Ledger.