Abortionist Convicted of Killing Client : Courts: The woman, who is not a physician, botched the procedure and failed to call for help. She faces 15 years to life in prison.

SANTA ANA — The former owner of an abortion clinic was convicted Monday of second-degree murder for botching an abortion, failing to call for help and trying to stuff the body in a trunk.

Alicia Ruiz Hanna, 33, covered her face and began shaking and crying as the Orange County Superior Court jury returned its verdicts, also convicting her of performing illegal abortions. She faces 15 years to life in prison when she is sentenced on Jan. 27.

Hanna, who ran a financially ailing clinic in Santa Ana, sought to increase profits by performing abortions herself without a license, rather than using a physician, prosecutors contended.

On Jan. 19, 1993, Angela Nieto Sanchez, 27, came to her clinic for an abortion. As two of Sanchez’s children sat in the waiting room, she died on an examination table after reacting violently to an unknown drug injected by Hanna, according to the prosecution.

Deputy Dist. Atty, Rick King told jurors that Sanchez did not have to die; a fire station staffed with emergency workers was less than one mile away. But Hanna admitted to jurors that she did not dial 911 because she feared being arrested for performing illegal abortions.

Deputy Public Defender Steve Biskar conceded that his client erred in practicing medicine without a license, but asked jurors to convict his client on a lesser charge of manslaughter.

Outside the court, jurors said they believed Hanna was a selfish businesswoman more interested in making money than guarding the welfare of her patients. “She knew the risks and she did it anyway,” juror Michelle Franks of Orange said.

Jury foreman Charles Buezis of Stanton said, “There really wasn’t a lot of sympathy for her.”

Hanna testified that she tried desperately to revive Sanchez with cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The clinic’s emergency equipment, including an empty oxygen tank, was not operating. A clinic employee, who was a key prosecution witness, testified that Hanna hatched a plan to dump the corpse in Tijuana.

Hanna ordered an assistant to tell Sanchez’s children that their mother had left the clinic. The children remained at the clinic most of the day until an uncle picked them up.

Sanchez’s frantic relatives searched the neighborhood and returned to the clinic later that night, hoping to find the missing woman. But Sanchez’s daughter, Maria, now 14, testified that she found Hanna trying to hoist her mother’s body into a car trunk.

Evidence in the trial indicated Hanna had performed numerous abortions. After one botched abortion, the patient discovered months later that she was still pregnant.

Maria Sanchez wept during the court hearing and said outside of court that the verdict was just, but does nothing to bring her mother back.