2 Convicted in Shooting of Girl, 11, Wounded in Heart : Courts: Victim, who was caught in a gang cross-fire in February, carried 2-year-old brother to safety. Defendants’ relatives question verdict.

Two reputed South-Central Los Angeles gang members were found guilty Tuesday of attempted murder in the February drive-by shooting of an 11-year-old girl who, with a bullet lodged in her heart, carried her 2-year-old brother to safety.

Los Angeles Superior Court jurors deliberated two days before convicting Zarricor Glassper, 27, and Sean Payton, 17, of two counts each of attempted murder and one count of assault with a firearm.

The same jury--with the exception of a juror later replaced by an alternate--had voted on Thursday to acquit co-defendant Tony Davis, 24, of the same charges in the shooting of Cristal Flores-Anguiano, now 12.

On Feb. 2, Cristal had run outside with her brother, Rafael, to buy ice cream from a truck passing her family’s home on 84th Street when a gun battle exploded between two carloads of rival gang members. A ricocheting bullet struck her in the heart.

Cristal carried Rafael to the doorway and then collapsed and told her parents, “I don’t feel good.” While recovering at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center from surgeries to repair the wound and later to remove the bullet, she gained wide media attention and support from hundreds of Los Angeles residents, some of whom offered to send her on outings.

Cristal was not in court Tuesday, but “she’s doing well, she’s going back to school and her biggest concern is when she’s going to Disneyland,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Lori-Ann Jones.

Glassper and Payton, who face sentencing on Jan. 4, merely stared as the court clerk read the verdicts, which Jones said carry prison terms of 20 years to life.

But Payton’s lawyer and family criticized the verdicts, saying that key witnesses in the shooting had recanted on the stand.

Payton’s sister, Lashon Bradley, said: “My brother don’t gangbang, or my cousin (Glassper); they just stay around the neighborhood, and people think they belong to the gang. . . . They should get the right people instead of the wrong people.”

Willie Mae Bradley, Payton’s 87-year-old grandmother, sobbed: “I know he’s not guilty; I know it. I know my child is not guilty.”

Defense attorney Dale Rubin said that authorities had arrested, tried and convicted the wrong men.

“The jury chose to believe three out-of-court statements made (by witnesses) at the 77th Division police headquarters that were not made under oath,” rather than believing different testimony those witnesses made during the three-week trial, Rubin said.

Rubin also said the jury was swayed by the interest shown in the case by public officials such as Mayor Tom Bradley, former Police Chief Daryl F. Gates and Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren.

“Instead of trying to focus on solving the crime, they focused on convicting the defendants,” he said.

Jones, the prosecutor, responded, “I think it’s good the leaders we have are involved, but this pressure didn’t enter the courthouse.”

She added that witnesses who tell police the truth in gang cases sometimes recant under the pressure of trial.

“When asked, these young men (the witnesses) told the truth to the police officers,” Jones said. “The evidence was there, and they (the defendants) did get a fair trial.”

Of the guilty verdicts, Jones said: “It tells (gang members) they can’t do this in Los Angeles anymore. If we all work together, we can get convictions to stop the gang violence in Los Angeles.”

Glassper likely will be sentenced Jan. 4, but sentencing for Payton, who was tried as an adult, may be delayed while the California Youth Authority gives him a psychological evaluation to help determine where he should be incarcerated, Jones said.