2 Officers Guilty in Gunplay on Freeway : Courts: Pair are convicted of gross negligence, the lesser of three counts. Juror says CHP officer was not convincing when he testified that off-duty policemen fired at him.

A pair of Los Angeles policemen who had been accused of firing on a California Highway Patrol officer during a drunken, off-duty shooting spree were convicted Monday of gross negligence in discharging their firearms, but found innocent on more serious charges.

Ted Teyechea and Michael Herrera, nine-year veterans of the LAPD, sighed as the seven-man, five-woman jury read their verdict regarding the Feb. 9 incident.

Teyechea had testified that he had gone out drinking after learning that, for the second straight year, no one in the department would be getting a pay raise. He said he was on his way with Herrera to another bar when he fired out the window of their pickup truck in disgust.

His lawyer, Barry Levin, told the jury that the act was “the most painfully stupid thing he had ever done in his life.”

However, Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Steinfeld argued that the officers were doing more than simply letting off steam when they fired 21 times as they sped along the Harbor and Artesia freeways. Although Teyechea and Herrera later denied aiming at the CHP officer who eventually chased them down, Steinfeld told the jury that the two policemen fired on their pursuer in an attempt to scare him away.

CHP Officer Scott Wall said the defendants intentionally turned their weapons on him after he heard gunshots coming from their truck on the Harbor Freeway and gave chase.

Believing he was under attack by a truckload of gangbangers, Wall said he could see the powder flash from the gun barrels and could hear bullets zing by as he edged closer to the vehicle.

After a chase that reached speeds of 75 m.p.h., the officers stopped at a red light at the end of the Artesia Freeway in Gardena, Wall testified. The CHP officer said he pulled his service revolver and “screamed for both men to put their hands up.”

“I was going to kill (the driver),” the officer testified, when he heard Herrera call out: “We’re cops, man! We’re cops!”

Later Teyechea and Herrera told authorities they had been drinking for five hours before the incident and had not seen Wall, who was not hit by any of the gunshots.

The trial became a contest over the credibility of the three officers. At one point, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George Trammell III waited until he was outside the jury’s presence, then told the lawyers involved that the CHP officer’s account was “ridiculous.”

Trammell said he doubted the jury would uphold any charges except the one involving negligence. The officers also had been charged with assault with a deadly weapon and shooting at an unoccupied vehicle. Trammel added that if the two officers were convicted on all three counts, he would exercise his option to overturn the verdict.

As it turned out, the jury agreed with the judge.

Juror Anthony Young, 26, said that although some of the jurors thought the LAPD officers were firing at Wall, the latter was unconvincing on the stand.

“Everybody felt that they did it, but it was Wall’s word against theirs,” Young said, and “his story was inconsistent.”

Steinfeld said she was satisfied with the verdict. The negligence charge, she noted, is a felony that could bring a maximum sentence of three years imprisonment for Herrera and three years and eight months in prison for Teyechea.

“Jurors always have a difficult time when the defendant is a police officer, no matter what the charges are,” she said.

She added: “I hope that it sends a message to all of Los Angeles, not just police officers. You can’t just go out drinking and shoot your guns.”

Sentencing for Teyechea and Herrera was set for Nov. 15 in Trammell’s court. The two men, who have been suspended without pay since the incident, will now face internal disciplinary procedures by the department.

Times staff writer Shawn Hubler contributed to this story.