It was a quiet victory for Billy Yang and his family. The two men on trial, slouched in their seats, barely glanced up as the judge read the verdict.

Both were found guilty of the murder and robbery of liquor store owner Jae Yang, Billy’s father.

Afterward, Billy’s face showed an expression of relief.

“This is what I needed to move forward with life,” he said.

On Dec. 18, 2004, Jae Yang was robbed and shot by Kenneth Peoples, 24, and Eric Butler, 26. The two men rushed into the store wearing black hoodies, ski masks and latex gloves. When Jae tried to defend himself, one of the men shot him in the face. The other shot him in the head. The men grabbed some cash and fled.

Billy, 29, now runs his father’s store, St. Regis Liquor in Hollywood. Seven days a week, he stands where his father used to stand, an area now blocked from customers by bulletproof glass.

He had been anticipating a trial ever since police arrested the suspects a month after the murder. But the moment he got the phone call from his attorney that the trial was starting, all the emotions came rushing back.

The jury deliberated for four hours before reaching a verdict. Butler and Peoples were charged with murder and second-degree robbery. They face life in prison without the possibility of parole. Two others involved in the robbery pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Charges against a fifth defendant were dismissed in September 2005.

After hearing the verdict, Billy’s younger sister, Connie Yang, 27, called their mother, who they had kept away from the trial. Holding her boyfriend’s hand, her eyes welled with tears. She said the trial made her experience the loss all over again. “I’m still processing it,” Connie said. “I’m relieved, but sad for their family.”

Billy says he doesn’t believe race was a factor for his father’s murderers, both African American. “The only color it came down to was green,” he said. “It was brutal and callous the way it happened. We’ve been dying to put this past us.