3 Men Convicted on Lesser Charges in Killings of 2 in Stanton : Verdict: Superior Court judge says her ruling was a result of confusion over facts in the case.

Three men were convicted Thursday of voluntary manslaughter in a case that Orange County Superior Court Judge Jean M. Rheinheimer called one of the most confusing she has ever tried.

The judge, who heard the case without a jury, convicted brothers Dan Huu Mai, 36, and Khanh Phuoc Mai, 35, and an unrelated friend, Hung Van Mai, 35, of killing two men in a crowded Stanton apartment in 1991.

Thien Xuan Nguyen, 22, and Ba Van Tran, 20, were fatally shot during an argument between two groups.

As the verdict was announced, the three defendants sat in the otherwise empty jury box with two translators.

In announcing her verdict, Rheinheimer explained that she convicted the men of voluntary manslaughter, rather than second-degree murder, largely because of the prosecution testimony and the confusing scene investigators found the night of the killings.

Saying she did not intend to “devalue” the lives of the slain men in finding the defendants guilty of the lesser charges, Rheinheimer noted the weakness of the prosecutors’ chief witness. “A half-truth here and a half-truth there can contribute to reasonable doubt,” she said.

Twelve to 15 people were in the small apartment, including children and young women not involved in the dispute, the judge said. Other witnesses apparently fled, and bodies and other evidence had been moved, leaving the crime scene a “tragic circus,” she said.

The judge said she was “distressed over the death of the two individuals. The court is distressed that the problems between these immigrants to our country could not have been worked out in a more peaceable way.”

Jack M. Earley, attorney for Hung Van Mai, said the verdict was “expected.”

The prosecution “had a lot of problems with their case,” in part because the killings arose from a dispute between two groups of people “that got out of hand,” Earley said.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the verdict.

The three were also convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and gun charges. When they are sentenced April 23, they face maximum sentences of more than 15 years in prison.

A fourth man has yet to be tried for the shooting.