Local : Ridder Stepson Guilty in Shooting

A newspaper executive’s stepson was found guilty today of attempted first-degree murder by a jury that also found he inflicted great bodily harm on his girlfriend when he shot her, paralyzing her from the waist down.

Bradley Ackerman, 24, sat quietly as the jury’s verdict was announced in a packed courtroom. His stepfather, Daniel Ridder, chairman of the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, was grim-faced as the jury read the verdict. Neither the victim, Julie Alban, 23, nor her family was in court. Ackerman faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. He had said he was in a Valium-induced stupor June 8 when he shot Alban with a single bullet in the back, paralyzing her below the waist. He then shot himself in the chest, but recovered.