EL CAJON, Calif. -- A jury Wednesday recommended the death penalty for a man who shot and killed two El Cajon liquor store clerks during a robbery in 2006.

Jean Pierre Rices, 27, pleaded guilty last year to two counts of first-degree murder in the March 1, 2006, shooting deaths of Heather Mattia and Firas Eiso at Granada Liquor in the 900 block of Broadway.

He also admitted special circumstance allegations of murder during a robbery and multiple murders, so jurors had to decide between two options -- execution or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Jurors deliberated two hours before returning their verdict.

Judge Lantz Lewis is scheduled to sentence Rices on Aug. 21.

Mattia, 22, and Eiso, 23, had just closed the store, turned out the lights and armed the security system when they were confronted outside the business around 11 p.m. by Rices, armed with a 9 mm handgun, and a cohort who wore a mask and carried a bag.

The victims were pushed back into the store -- which was owned by Mattia's brother -- and forced to their knees, with their heads bowed, said prosecutor Glenn McAllister.

The prosecutor said Rices' alleged crime partner, Anthony James Miller, loaded $1,250 in cash and packs of cigarettes into his bag and conferred with Rices.

Defense attorney Mark Chambers told jurors that while his client offers no excuses for his actions, Rices' childhood -- which included being abandoned by his mother and other family members, and being shuttled among group homes -- were factors that should be considered.

Rices' mother was a drug-addled prostitute who abandoned him at the age of 5 in front of a Jack in the Box restaurant in Los Angeles, Chambers said.

Rices became a ward of the Los Angeles County juvenile system, and placements with various family members failed, the lawyer said. His grandfather told him he tried to "fix" the boy but couldn't, the lawyer said.

The child's behavior got worse after the age of 7, when his mother fell at Los Angeles International Airport and died after spending six months in a coma, Chambers said.

At the age of 12, his client was arrested for carrying a Swiss Army knife to school, Chambers said. Rices and another youngster stole and crashed a van belonging to their group home, according to the attorney.

He was barely into adulthood when he pleaded guilty to the carjacking, Chambers said.

A separate jury on Monday deadlocked on Miller's case, and a retrial is scheduled for September. Miller, 23, faces life in prison without parole if convicted of murder.

Nichele Delon Hopson, 24, pleaded guilty to two counts of voluntary manslaughter for being the getaway driver following the liquor store slayings and agreed to testify against Rices and Miller in exchange for a reduced sentence.