Overview
- A Maricopa County jury found Cudjoe Young guilty Wednesday of armed robbery and attempted armed robbery for two 2020 attacks on exotic dancers, including Mercedes Vega.
- Prosecutors presented cellphone tower data, Cash App records, surveillance video and a 2006 white Chevrolet Impala with distinctive front‑hood paint damage to link Young to the robberies.
- Young’s defense argued the digital evidence was unreliable, pointed to conflicting cell‑ping patterns and IP addresses, and Young declined to testify at the robbery trial.
- Young remains separately charged with Vega’s 2023 kidnapping and murder, prosecutors have filed motions seeking the death penalty for Young and co-defendant Sencere Hayes, and jurors in the robbery trial were only told that Vega was deceased.
- Young faces sentencing in the robbery case that could mean decades in prison and a separate homicide trial tentatively set for October 2027 that officials expect could be postponed because of the complexities of capital prosecution.