Man Convicted of Murder in 1980 Lye Attack : Crime: Ricardo Robinson was allegedly recruited in a plot to disfigure the victim, a law student.

After acting as his own lawyer in a retrial that rekindled memories of an excruciating death 14 years ago, Ricardo H. Robinson was convicted of first-degree murder in a 1980 lye attack on an aspiring lawyer.

Besides the murder conviction, the eight women and four men on the jury also found Robinson guilty of mayhem, conspiracy and assault for attacking Patricia Worrell with a caustic chemical. The jurors, who deliberated for two days, declined to talk about the case.

“Patricia Worrell can finally rest in peace,” prosecutor Robert L. Cohen said. “I’m happy there’s some closure for her friends and relatives.”

Robinson, formerly of Las Vegas, faces 25 years to life in prison when Judge Michael Harwin sentences him Aug. 29.

Robinson’s trial featured gruesome testimony about law student Worrell’s fatal injuries and appearances by Robinson’s two co-defendants. One implicated him, the other tried to clear him.

Robinson denied any role in the attack during his own testimony and claimed he was framed. But the jury was ordered to disregard Robinson’s testimony after he refused to answer Cohen’s questions under cross-examination.

Worrell’s son, William, who was 13 when his mother died, and other prosecution witnesses identified Robinson as the man who threw the lye.

According to testimony, Richard Morton Gilman, Worrell’s fellow law student and jilted fiance, hired a Las Vegas pimp named Bobby Ray Savage to disfigure her when she refused to return an engagement ring.

Savage in turn recruited Robinson, who, according to witnesses, threw the quart of lye in Worrell’s face when she answered a knock on the door of her Sylmar home on Aug. 14, 1980. Gilman was inside the house at the time of the attack and drove her to the hospital.

The lye blinded and disfigured Worrell, and continued to burn her flesh. She died 10 days after the attack when the caustic chemical ate through her esophagus and an artery.

Gilman promised Savage and Robinson $2,500 but paid them only $750 for the attack, according to testimony.

Testifying for the prosecution, Savage said Robinson threw the lye. Testifying for the defense, Gilman denied hiring Savage to disfigure Worrell, or ever meeting Robinson.

Robinson’s 1982 conviction was overturned two years ago after an appeals court ruled that his confession to the crime was obtained illegally. Robinson had asked for a lawyer but wasn’t provided one before he implicated himself in his statement to police.