Verdicts

Trash haulers angry at Montebello's decision to grant an exclusive contract to one hauling company have backed off efforts to remove two City Council members from office. Haulers were planning to launch a bid to recall Robert Urteaga and Kathy Salazar -- two of the three council members who supported the contract -- but decided to drop the effort based on legal advice from their attorney, organizers said. If the recall effort is reinstated, it could lead to the second such election in less than two years in a city where tumultuous infighting has culminated in an ugly battle over trash rights.

A teenage tagger was convicted Friday of stabbing a retired sheriff's deputy who tried to stop him from vandalizing a Huntington Beach business. Luke Artinger, 18, of Huntington Beach pleaded guilty to one felony count of battery causing serious bodily injury and two felony counts of vandalism, with a sentencing enhancement for using a deadly weapon. Artinger was sentenced to five years in state prison. He was 16 at the time of the crime in February 2007, but was tried as an adult.

A 23-year-old gang member has been convicted of murdering teen actress Tara Correa-McMullen and another person during a two-day shooting rampage in 2005. Damien Watts was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court. He was arrested after he fired at a group of people outside an Inglewood apartment complex Oct. 21, 2005, killing the 16-year-old actress and injuring two men. Correa-McMullen, whose real name was Shalvah McMullen, appeared in the movie "Rebound" and had a recurring role on "Judging Amy" as a former gang member named Graciela.

A federal court jury on Wednesday convicted five people in connection with a plot to lure impoverished young women from Guatemala to the United States with the promise of legitimate jobs, only to then force them into prostitution to repay their supposed debts for being smuggled into the country. All five defendants are illegal immigrants themselves, four of them women from Guatemala who also worked as prostitutes. As the verdicts were read, the five defendants sat expressionless, as they did through much of the monthlong trial before U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow.

Two tenants were acquitted of creating a deadly maze of illegal walls in their apartment building, forcing two firefighters responding to a blaze to jump to their deaths. Caridad Coste and Rafael Castillo had faced manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and other charges that could have resulted in up to 15 years in prison. A second jury considering similar charges against the building's former and current owners was to resume deliberations Tuesday. Six firefighters were trapped in the building on Jan. 23, 2005.

The man authorities dubbed "the Koreatown rapist" was convicted Thursday of more than a dozen felonies stemming from attacks on four women and attempted sexual attacks on two others in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. Tyreese Lamar Reed, 29, is believed responsible for 13 sexual assaults and related robberies in Koreatown, Beverly Hills and Glendale from Aug. 26, 2004, to June 15, 2005, police said. All of the victims, who ranged in age from 17 to 55, were Asian. Eleven were of Korean descent.

EBay Inc. won a German court ruling in a case brought by Rolex Group over sales of counterfeit watches on EBay's website. The decision in Dusseldorf found that Rolex couldn't show that any similar counterfeit goods were offered on EBay after the company had been alerted to the sales. EBay faces a hearing next month in London on similar claims by L'Oreal. EBay has had mixed success in cases over counterfeits, winning last year against Tiffany & Co. and L'Oreal. It lost to LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Hermes International.

A Pomona jury acquitted former Los Angeles Ram Antonio "Tony" Zendejas of sexual assault charges Tuesday, rejecting claims that he drugged a female patron at his popular San Dimas sports bar. Defense attorney Timothy M. Younger said jurors took less than 90 minutes to find the former kicker not guilty of rape and sodomy by use of drugs. Younger said his client, who faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted, was relieved but also upset that the district attorney's office had pursued the case.

A former janitor was convicted of murdering six people and attacking 19 others in a series of random nighttime shootings of pedestrians, bicyclists and animals that terrorized Phoenix-area residents for 14 months. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Dale Hausner in the next phase of his trial, set to begin March 23. Authorities said Hausner, 36, killed eight people and attacked 20 others. They said Hausner, the main suspect in what were dubbed the Serial Shooter attacks, sometimes worked with his brother and former roommate.

Thousands of Corsicans marched to support Yvan Colonna, whose conviction for the murder of a senior French official was upheld in a trial deemed unfair by many on the Mediterranean island. Colonna was first sentenced in 2007 for the 1998 murder of Claude Erignac, a prefect of Corsica. Colonna, a shepherd, has said he is innocent. A Paris appeals court on Friday upheld the conviction and lengthened the sentence to life in jail with a minimum prison term of 22 years. The original life sentence could have allowed him out after 18 years.