Woman Convicted of Killing Boyfriend

A woman who shot her boyfriend and buried him in the backyard of their rented Topanga Canyon house was convicted Monday of second degree murder, and marijuana cultivation, according to court officials.

Prosecutors said Christina Marie White, 34, admitted to friends that she’d killed Peter Paul, 29, weeks after she says he threatened to kill her.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Renee Meckler said in her opening statements to the jury last month that White had in fact planned the killing of her live-in boyfriend of six months, a key component for first-degree murder, but the jury found that the killing was not premeditated.

The key prosecution evidence was a taped cell phone conversation during which White admitted the killing to an ex-boyfriend. Police said they were not eavesdropping, but rather the call broke through a police scanner transmission.

White’s defense lawyer, Alex Kessel, told jurors that White, who testified in her own defense, suffered from battered woman’s syndrome and that the killing was in self-defense.

Neither Meckler nor Kessel could be reached for comment.

White is still awaiting trial on separate charges of embezzling $800,000 from prior employers, a Beverly Hills printing company and a Malibu entrepreneur.