TRENTON - A New Jersey man was convicted yesterday of the murder and sexual abuse of seven-year-old Megan Kanka, an attack that resulted in the so-called "Megan's Law" for registration of convicted child molesters.
Jesse Timmendequas (36) was found guilty of all eight charges against him including capital murder, for which the penalty ranges from a minimum of 30 years in prison without parole to death by injection.
The July 1994 crime touched off a public outcry because the girl's parents, Mrs Maureen and Mr Richard Kanka, had not known that Timmendequas, a neighbour, was a sex offender twice convicted in assaults on young girls.