CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : OAKLAND : Man Convicted in Woman’s Murder

A murder suspect who peppered his trial with outbursts, an attack on his attorney and phone calls to jurors from his jail cell has been convicted of killing a 23-year-old Castro Valley woman. Michael Huggins, 25, handcuffed and shackled, sat impassively as the jury verdict was read Thursday. Sarah Ann Lees was shot in the back in her remote Bollinger Canyon home in March, 1986, by Huggins, who had escaped from a nearby California Youth Authority work party the day before. Huggins faces either the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole when the jury reconvenes for the penalty phase Aug. 20. Huggins drew the ire of Judge Stanley Golde at the beginning of the trial when he phoned five jurors at home from his jail cell. Two of the original jurors were dismissed after they said they could not be impartial because of the calls.