After the Riots / NEWS IN BRIEF : CURFEW CONVICTION : Jury Finds Man Guilty in Curfew Trial

In the first jury trial of its kind, a Los Angeles Municipal Court jury took just 20 minutes Friday to deliver a guilty verdict against a 22-year-old El Monte man accused of a curfew violation during the riots.

A warrant was issued for the defendant, Paul Langford, when he did not appear for the announcement of the verdict, according to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office. Langford had attended his trial Thursday when only one witness testified--the police officer who arrested him and two other men as they drove through the intersection of Washington and Crenshaw boulevards at 10 p.m. on May 3.

“That area had been subject to a lot of vandalism and looting,” said Deputy City Atty. Gail Peterson, who prosecuted the case. “When these individuals saw the police, they sped off.”

Most of the hundreds of people arrested on curfew violations have pleaded guilty and received sentences ranging from $300 fines to 10 days in jail. But Langford asked for a jury trial. Prosecutors said he was on probation after serving a jail term for second-degree murder last year.

“He knew the verdict (in the curfew case) was today and he didn’t show up,” Peterson said. “He knew what was coming.”