• Politics
• Entertainment
• Business
• Tech

Calif. mom who drove son to gang fight convicted

October 07 06:05:02 AM, Yahoo News

AP - A mother was convicted of second-degree murder Monday for driving her teenage son and his friends to a fatal fight with a rival gang.

Eva Daley, 31, had been charged with first-degree murder but the jury opted for the lesser conviction after deliberating for more than two days. She faces 15 years to life in prison when she is sentenced Nov. 4.

Her co-defendant, Heriberto Garcia, was also convicted of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing 13-year-old Jose Cano near a Long Beach skate park in June 2007. Garcia, one of the passengers in Daley's vehicle, is 17 but was tried as an adult.

Five other teenagers, including Daley's son, admitted a manslaughter charge in juvenile court and could remain in state custody until age 25. The case of another youth is still pending in juvenile court.

Daley's defense attorney, Javier Ramirez, argued that Daley didn't know what was going to occur when the boys, including her eldest son, piled out of her vehicle at the park. Daley testified last week that she didn't know anyone was killed until she was arrested the next day.

Prosecutors said Cano's slaying could have been retaliation for the stabbing of Daley's son about six months earlier or for an incident earlier that night, when gang members threw flares toward at her apartment complex.

Deputy District Attorney John Lonergan said Garcia stabbed Cano nine times.

Garcia's attorney, Jack Fuller, told jurors that the prosecution had not proven premeditation and deliberation or intent to kill.

Garcia, who faces 15 years to life in prison, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 28.

Related articles

• Military 'only solution' to piracy, says tanker firm
  AFP - A more aggressive military approach is the only answer to an escalation of piracy off Somalia, the world's biggest oil tanker company said Friday.
• Court overturns 1991 murder conviction of Arizona teen who confessed; 8-year-old's interrogation is similar
  Johnathan Doody -- said to have slain nine at a Buddhist temple -- was questioned at length with no adult support. This month, so was a third-grader accused of killing his father and a boarder. …
• Another bloody night in Sinaloa, Mexico
  Five federal and state police agents are killed in an ambush in Culiacan as drug gangs try to fight off a government crackdown. The day's toll is 10. …
• Man says cell phone saved him from stray bullet
  AP - R.J. Richard says he doesn't normally put his cell phone in his chest pocket. But he says it saved his life the one time he did.
• Congress sends jobless benefit extension to Bush
  AP - With no end in sight to economic bad news, President George W. Bush is about to ensure that millions of laid-off workers won't see their unemployment checks disappear as the year-end holidays approach.
• Report says CIA withheld info from White House
  AP - The CIA withheld information from the White House, Justice Department and Congress about the 2001 shooting down of a plane over Peru carrying an American missionary family, part of a yearslong cover-up…
• Atty. Gen. Mukasey collapses during speech
  AP - Attorney General Michael Mukasey was hospitalized but conscious and alert early Friday after collapsing during a late-night speech to a conservative legal group.
• Neb. lawmakers form task force on child drop-offs
  AP - Lawmakers are poised to close a loophole that led to troubled teens being abandoned at Nebraska hospitals, but they aren't stopping there. Instead, they're vowing to make sure families can get help…
• Graffiti study bolsters 'broken windows' theory
  Dutch researchers find that in the presence of graffiti and trash, people are more likely to commit small crimes. …
• US details role for additional Afghan forces
  AP - With the United States reevaluating strategy in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is telling allies that additional U.S. forces planned for the war must be shared across the region taking…
• Chinese officials' shifting quake tolls anger parents of children who died
  Reporting from Beijing - Jiang Xujun felt the stab of his daughter's death all over again Friday when Chinese officials acknowledged for the first time that 19,000 students perished in May's deadly earthquake…
• Witness recalls last messages in MySpace hoax case
  AP - Upon hearing about the suicide of a 13-year-old neighbor, a Missouri woman ordered her business assistant and daughter to delete the Internet account they are accused of using to harass the girl,…
• Baghdad locked down for U.S. troop pact protest
  Reuters - Iraqi forces shut streets in Baghdad and placed snipers on rooftops on Friday before a protest by followers of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr against a pact allowing U.S. troops to remain for three more…
• Bush takes financial reform agenda to APEC forum
  Reuters - George W. Bush makes his last scheduled trip abroad as U.S. president on Friday, heading to an Asia-Pacific summit where he will seek support for global financial reform and hold talks on ending…
• U.S. influence is on the decline, report says
  American intelligence agencies predict that China and India will cut into U.S. clout over the next two decades. The report also sees an increase in terrorist violence. …
• Neb. lawmakers form task force on child drop-offs
  AP - Lawmakers are poised to close a loophole that led to troubled teens being abandoned at Nebraska hospitals, but they aren't stopping there. Instead, they're vowing to make sure families can get help…
• Shuttle, astronauts prep for mid-mission reboost
  AP - Astronauts at the international space station prepared to work on a urine-recycling contraption and re-fire the space shuttle's thrusters Friday, before enjoying a half-day off to reboost their own…
• European, Asian markets rebound despite US losses
  AP - European and Asian stock markets rebounded Friday as expectations of a recovery on Wall Street prompted investors to scoop up battered financial and energy shares.
• CIA lied about shoot-down of missionary plane, report says
  An investigation by the agency's inspector general finds that officials covered up details of the 2001 incident over Peru that killed two Americans and wounded three other people. …
• Aide: Obama on track to nominate Clinton
  AP - President-elect Barack Obama plans to nominate Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state after Thanksgiving, an aide to his transition said Thursday.
• Feds: FAA worker took plane, yachts as perks
  AP - A Federal Aviation Administration employee from Southern California took illegal perks from his job — including a plane, yachts and heavy-duty trucks — and an investigation continues into how widespread…
• NY hate crime suspect now charged with murder
  AP - The killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant by seven high school students was part of a spree in which the teenagers tormented other immigrants while armed with knives and BB guns, prosecutors said.
• China says 19,000 students died in May earthquake
  AP - China acknowledged Friday for the first time that more than 19,000 schoolchildren were among the dead in the massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province in May.
• No relief seen in global crisis
  Reuters - Signs of distress in the global economy mounted on Friday, with shares in U.S. bank Citigroup Inc plunging on fears about its future, oil prices falling and the future of U.S. automakers hanging…