3 Acquitted of Slaying During Riots : Trial: Defendants are found guilty of burglary and assault on two motorcyclists, one of whom was fatally shot. Juror says there was no evidence proving who pulled the trigger.

A Superior Court jury Tuesday acquitted three men in the shooting death of a Long Beach motorcyclist on the second day of the spring riots but found them guilty of burglary and assault.

The 12-member jury found Larry Williams, 24, Fabian Nixon, 19, and Brent Lamar Jones, 17, not guilty in the slaying of 32-year-old Matthew Haines, who was pulled off his bike, beaten and fatally shot in the neck on April 30. Haines’ nephew, 26-year-old Scott Coleman, who was also on the bike, was beaten and shot several times, but survived.

The prosecution argued that the three men conspired to rob, loot and assault people on April 30, and as a result Haines was killed.

Jury forewoman Althelia Billingsley said the evidence did not prove that any of the defendants pulled the trigger.

“We all knew someone did the killing, and we know someone out there knows who,” she said in an interview. “But there wasn’t evidence proving that the three defendants actually did shoot the victim.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Grace said he was disappointed at the verdict. “(But) it was a fair and impartial jury. . . . We are glad they were convicted on some counts,” he said.

Attorneys on both sides maintained that the jury had not been influenced by any fear that a guilty verdict in this case could spark civil unrest.

Billingsley said the jury did not discuss the possibility of rioting as a result of its verdict. “We didn’t even talk about that,” she said. “We listened to the evidence and went through the charges one by one.”

Nonetheless, Long Beach police went on tactical alert Tuesday as a precaution. And in the Los Angeles Police Department’s South Bureau--where many of the riot’s early flash points erupted--detectives were ordered to be in uniform Tuesday and additional officers were deployed in three LAPD stations.

Inside the packed courtroom, families and friends of the defendants breathed heavy sighs of relief as Court Clerk Richard Murase read the jury’s verdict.

Williams’ 23-year-old fiancee, Amy Wilson, smiled and whispered, “Thank you, Jesus.”

Outside the courtroom, a smiling Wilson added: “He’s coming back. I can go home and tell my baby, ‘Your daddy’s coming home.’ ”

In fact, the men could face up to five years and eight months in prison. A sentencing hearing is set for March 24.

Coleman, who is recovering from his injuries, was in the courtroom during the reading of the verdict, but waved reporters away. His mother, Cris Baldwin, said she is not troubled by the decision.

“I’m not a vengeful person,” she said. “Matt is still dead, and Scott’s life is still ruined.”

The case--the first riot-related murder trial--lasted two months. One juror died just as the six days of deliberations began and was replaced by an alternate.

Even though the jury found the three guilty of burglary, assault and conspiracy to commit burglary, it acquitted them of robbing the motorcyclists and of assaulting a young couple just before that attack.

Prosecutors had argued that an hour before Haines was murdered, the three Long Beach men met at a nearby park and conspired to loot, rob and assault.

They told the jury that the violence began when Nixon threw a tire rim stolen from a nearby auto parts store at the motorcyclists. After the bike toppled, Williams and Jones were among a group of people who beat, kicked and robbed Haines, prosecutors said.

The defense praised the jury for not handing down a murder conviction.

“The jury convicted (the defendants) on exactly what they had done,” said Nixon’s attorney, Donald Hertzstein. “This case shows that young black men can be accused of a serious crime and found not guilty.”

Donald Armstrong, defendant Brent Jones’ uncle, offered his sympathies to Coleman’s mother but said the prosecutor tried to convict the wrong people.

“I feel real bad for her. . . . I can understand that they want the people caught,” Armstrong said. “The man didn’t go after the guy who actually did it.”

Scott Coleman still can’t work because of his injuries and is afraid to step out of the house alone, said his mother.

“I don’t think he will ever recover,” said Baldwin, 46. “He still wakes up every night with nightmares. . . . He is very afraid, physically and emotionally.”