Woman Convicted in Hit-Run Death : Courts: Jury finds Joan Mills, 60, guilty in 1993 accident in Woodland Hills that killed 13-year-old Matthew Fischer.

A Superior Court jury Tuesday found a Woodland Hills woman guilty of vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run driving in connection with the death of 13-year-old Matthew Fischer of Woodland Hills, who was run down in a crosswalk 18 months ago.

Jurors deliberated less than a day before rejecting Joan Mills’ story that she thought she hit a dog.

Mills, 60, who began sobbing quietly even before the verdicts were read, is set to be sentenced May 30. She faces a maximum sentence of seven years in state prison.

Her attorney, Ira Salzman, had asked that she be allowed to remain free on bail, but Judge Michael R. Hoff denied the request.

“I wish I could think of something profound to say . . . but it’s time,” Hoff said. Mills was then handcuffed and placed in custody by sheriff’s deputies.

The Fischer family and their friends also cried while the verdicts were being read. Later, Herman Fischer, Matthew’s father, said his family can now get their lives back together.

“We’ve taken a big hit both personally and professionally,” he said, noting that his software development company has suffered since the accident because he has been unable to devote time to it.

“I feel very relieved,” said Carol Fischer, Matthew’s mother. “This part of the nightmare is over now.”

“I can finally get on with my life,” added Matthew’s 11-year-old brother, Cory.

Mills’ husband, James Mills, blamed the Fischer family for the guilty verdicts.

“They are cold, vindictive people,” he said. “It’s absolutely ridiculous what they’ve done to my wife.”

Salzman said he was “very disappointed” with the verdicts. Salzman said he believes probation is an appropriate sentence.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Shuit, however, said he will ask that Mills be sentenced to prison.

“When someone leaves someone to die and splits, some prison time is appropriate,” Shuit said. “If she had stayed, she might have been able to save his life.”

After the court proceedings, jury foreman Dennis Burley, 53, of Northridge, said the panel did not believe Mills’ version of the accident and said her husband’s testimony hurt more than it helped her case.

“She wasn’t exact on anything. . . . and he couldn’t corroborate anything she said,” Burley said. “How could you not know you hit someone at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Even if you had hit a dog, you would have stopped.”

During the trial, Mills testified that on Nov. 19, 1993, she thought she had the right of way when she drove through the intersection of Shoup Avenue and Oxnard Street in Woodland Hills. She said her attention was momentarily diverted by a motorist who tried to turn left in front of her.

Mills said that she saw “kind of a flash that went by my car,” but thought it was a dog or something small that bounced off her hood. She said she never thought she had hit a human being, which was why she drove home.

Her husband later drove to the accident scene and told police that his wife thought she might have hit a dog. Police followed Mills home, and later charged her with Matthew’s death.

Witnesses, including some of Matthew’s classmates, contradicted Mills’ testimony, saying she ran the red light at high speed and wagged her finger at other motorists waiting to enter the intersection.

Matthew, an eighth-grader at the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, had stepped off a bus and was crossing Oxnard Street on a green light when he was struck by Mills’ blue Toyota. Witnesses testified that the car stopped briefly before taking off.

Mills originally agreed to plead guilty to the charges. However, she withdrew her plea after a question arose about how a 1985 traffic-related conviction in Minnesota would affect sentencing.

It was never made clear whether the offense was for drunk driving, as prosecutors contend, or for an illegal left turn, as the defense maintains.