Verdicts

A man whose girlfriend was fatally shot by Pasadena police was convicted Thursday of her murder. Walter Villanueva faces up to life in prison. The 25-year-old was charged with the death of Erica Hindman, who was shot in the head on Sept. 3, 2006, when a rookie officer fired into a moving car driven by Villanueva. Prosecutors said the alleged gang member had appeared to be pointing a gun at the officer. Villanueva was also convicted of assault with a firearm, shooting at an inhabited dwelling and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

The reputed leader of an Orange County gang was convicted of murder Thursday in the August 2003 shooting death of a 13-year-old boy who was mistakenly fingered as a rival gang member. Jason Alejandro Aguirre, 33, of Garden Grove could face the death penalty. Four other defendants, three of whom were juveniles but charged as adults, have either pleaded guilty to lesser crimes or await trial in Orange County Superior Court. Prosecutors say the victim, Minh Tran, and four family members were eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Westminster that was a hangout for members of Aguirre's gang, one of whom thought the family members belonged to a rival gang.

BRITAIN A British jury convicted a former Afghan warlord of torture and hostage-taking after what prosecutors called the first trial in Britain of a foreigner for crimes in his homeland. Victims testified via video from the British Embassy in Kabul. For much of the 1990s, Faryadi Sarwar Zardad and his men ran a fiefdom of fear on the outskirts of Kabul, the Afghan capital. Zardad, who came to London in 1998 on a fake passport, was managing a pizza restaurant when arrested.

A jury in Fort Worth ordered a teenager to pay $7 million in damages to the family of a boy killed when she lost control of her vehicle while answering a cellular telephone. Kayla Segerstrom, 18, crashed her family van head-on into another car Jan. 13, 1996. A 3-year-old boy was killed in the accident. His baby sister's neck was broken and their father, James Colvin, suffered serious brain damage. The Colvins' attorney said Segerstrom's parents should have taught her how to use the phone safely.

A Downey man was convicted of murder Thursday for killing two people in a high-speed crash in 2005 while he was driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana. Jon David Tafoya, 28, could face 30 years to life in prison when he is sentenced March 28. On April 5, 2005, Tafoya attempted to evade Orange County sheriff's deputies who were trying to pull him over in Mission Viejo on suspicion of drinking and driving. His 2005 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck was traveling about 90 mph on the wrong side of the road when it crashed head-on into a Saturn, killing Eusebio Flores, 40, of Lake Forest and Melody Woodridge, 22, of Redlands, authorities said.

A woman accused of setting a fire that destroyed six trailers, rendered eight families homeless and resulted in the evacuation of a notorious mobile home park in Thermal was acquitted on all charges Friday by a jury in Indio. An emotional Guadalupe DeAnda, 52, sobbed uncontrollably as the verdict was read, said her lawyer, public defender David Prendergast. The case went to the jury Thursday.

Two brothers, ages 15 and 16, and a 13-year-old friend each were convicted of first-degree murder last month in the shooting death of 15-year-old Ichinkhorloo "Iko" Bayarsaikhan. On Friday, a judge in San Leandro sentenced the older brother to at least seven years in a juvenile detention facility, while the other two teens were sentenced to attend Rites of Passage, a wilderness camp in Nevada that serves at-risk youth. The boys were part of a group that tried to rob Bayarsaikhan and her friends in Washington Park on Halloween.

Three former natural gas traders of El Paso Corp., based in Houston, were convicted of reporting false deals to manipulate gas prices from 2000 to 2002. A U.S. federal court jury convicted James Brooks, Wesley Walton and James Patrick Phillips of sending publications Inside FERC and Natural Gas Intelligence false trade data to defraud the markets. Sentencing is scheduled for May 23.

Ubisoft Entertainment, Europe's second-biggest maker of video games, won a $13.2-million judgment against Van Nuys-based toy maker MGA Entertainment Inc. in a contract dispute over Bratz dolls. The award was reached through national arbitration and confirmed by Los Angeles County Superior Court, France-based Ubisoft said. The two companies sued each other in federal court after a 2002 licensing agreement to make video games based on MGA's Bratz dolls fell apart.